Herald of Death Book Two: Rebirth
by megamatt09
Summary: Our Heralds have more challenges than ever before, with invading aliens, a shady government organization, and several people being brought back from the dead. Harry/Kara/Multi.
1. Chapter 1

_Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Smallville, DC, or your souls (yet)._

**Chapter One: Waking Up in Paradise Part One.**

"It's been six weeks since our powers came back."

Lois closed her eyes and recapped every single moment of that fateful day the last month in her head. The moment where their powers were taken away, all the way to the moment where they came back, a bit too late to do any good. It was an extremely intense moment in time and Lois shook her head, hoping that everything would make any sense. Or at least any sense to her but there was no sense to be made with this insane life. If Lois learned one thing, that was true.

"Okay, okay, our powers are back, and there's something different about them," Lois continued, realizing that she was now talking to herself because she sat at the Kent Farm and looked outside the window at the light. "And I seem to be much stronger, faster, and...there's that one thing that I can do. And then I can...well I can do this."

Lois transfigured the couch into a large roaring lion before she transfigured it back.

"And that's not all that I could do."

A whoosh could be heard behind her.

"Still no progress with Clark?"

"No progress," Lana stated when she dropped down to the ground, tired. Actually she could not be tired physically with her powers but she was mentally tired. "He's still alive but he's not alive. And Raya's only popped out of the Fortress once in the past month. She says that...well I can't make heads or tails of what she's saying."

Lois put her hands on her face, things were not improving for any of them. She turned her head and twisted her head around. "Isn't there something about Clark's soul being in limbo even though his body was still alive?"

"I guess, I don't know," Lana stated in a tense voice. "What the hell happened?"

"Damned if I know," Lois responded with a shrug, none of this made any sense.

And Chloe sealed herself in seclusion; she should have died from the attack, in fact her heart stopped for several moments. Harry was gone for the past month and Kara and Karen also vanished off the face of the Earth. Chloe poured all of her resources into tracking down Harry, using the Shining Light Computers and other resources. Yet, there was a not a thing she could do to find them.

"The Blur is still alive though," Lois answered when she looked at Lana.

"Of course, we don't want anyone to make the connection between Clark's disappearance and the disappearance of the Blur," Lana stated when she turned her head around. Her and Lana had been taking turns posing as the Blur.

Was Clark going to get better?

She sure hoped so but now they were going to wait a little bit for everything that was going to happen. It was a frustrating waiting game for them all.

That time where Lana laid there paralyzed, while she watched Doomsday and Clark battle flashed through her head. She was pretty sure that Clark technically died; at least she felt a rush of cold when he went down. Yet he got a second chance, somehow but he was not completely back. Would he ever be back?

Would he ever be the same again?

Lana made a split decision. "Come on, let's get to the Fortress, get some answers."

Lois spun around and blinked. "Okay, but I sure hope that it doesn't pull another access denied on us."

Lois and Lana decided collectively that they wanted and deserved an update on Clark. The two of them arrived in the Artic, flying there in less than a minute. Their speed increased, before they walked towards the Artic.

It turned out that they were not alone, there was a woman dressed in a hooded coat, with blue jeans, who was trying to access the Fortress. The blue glow that blocked them was still around it and blocked her.

"HEY!"

Lois rushed forward and tried to figure out what the woman's game was.

Thara Ak-Var spun around; she detected this outpost of Kryptonian technology and was curious if others had been on Earth. If it was some kind of outpost set up by Zod, then she would have to destroy it immediately.

"Who are you, what are you doing here?" Lana asked, trying to remain calm but at the same time, she braced herself for a fight.

Thara paused and stood rigid before she spun around to face this trio of women. Her face contorted into as scowl from underneath her hood. "Who are you?"

"Hey, we asked you first," Lois responded when she rushed forward and grabbed Thara around the waist to try and subdue her.

Thara, instinctively, defended herself against what she perceived to be an attack. She flipped to the ground and Lois spiraled head over heels, landing on the ground with a solid thud. Thara threw herself back and ran at Lois with super speed, before punching her hard in the rib cage, before dropping her down to the ground.

"You won't use this outpost to take over the world," Thara responded when Lana tried to kick her but Thara grabbed her ankle and snapped it to the ground. It would heal but Lana was in pain momentarily. "Zod won't rule this planet."

"Zod?" Lana asked when she looked at Thara. "I don't think..."

"You don't think that anyone can stop you?" Thara interrupted, her mind running on auto-pilot, when she aimed an attack at Lana but Lana dodged the attack. The two exchanged punches but neither was giving up any ground for the other. Two blurs fought in the Artic, exchanging punches and being knocked back and forth with each individual shot.

Lois poked her head up, taking a breath, before she rushed for the attack but a shield blocked her. She didn't think that Kryptonians could do that with their powers, at least naturally. She pushed back with determination and joined Lana in trying to attack her.

This woman was stronger than both of them put together and she propelled them back to the ground. Lana.

"Alright, we're going to need some back up," Lois stated when she closed her eyes and she split into half and then into fourths and then into eighths. Eight different Lois Lanes appeared, before they all rushed their adversary one at a time.

Thara wondered if Zod did experiments to enhance his soldiers but she would have to worry about that at another time.

"That's right you better run!" Lois called when she saw Thara fly up in the air.

Lana frowned. "I don't think she's running."

A gust of cold wind and ice froze all of the Lois clones along with Lana, causing them to be stuck in their tracks. Lana's body heated up a second later and melted the ice, before she freed Lois who was back down to an army of one.

The mysterious Kryptonian, well she was gone, vanished without a trace. Lana took after her, to get answers, which seemed to be less than forthcoming.

* * *

Chloe Potter, nee Sullivan, had not slept in six weeks.

Not that she needed to sleep mind you but after everything that happened, she found sleep hard to come by. It started the fact where she got knocked out of the window of the highest point in Metropolis by some nutcase with a wand. Chloe sat in the newly created Watchtower, with the equipment that Harry sat up and she was scanning the world for any trace of them, even a miniscule one.

Harry, Kara, and Karen pulled a vanishing act, where they were, Chloe had no idea whatsoever.

Her powers returned with a vengeance. The other day Chloe was going across the street, finally convincing herself that the consumption of food was necessary for long term living. As it turned out,

she could stop time and get there and get back before returning to her work with not one second passing. She knew Harry could do that.

"I figured you'd need some help."

Chloe turned around and saw Zatanna standing in the doorway where she was.

"I'm glad you're here, I can't find Harry, Kara, or Karen, four weeks, four weeks that I've searched and they're gone without a trace," Chloe stated before she remembered what else happened. "And then there's Clark, he's in the Fortress, his soul is in some kind of limbo thing even though his body's technically still alive."

Zatanna frowned. "Clark may have suffered a similar phenomenon that one suffers when they sustain the Dementor's Kiss."

Harry told Chloe about the Dementors and this did not improve her mood or her worry. Clark was alive, but there was no one home.

"His own soul is undergoing a journey, I believe," Zatanna stated, although this was magic beyond anything she could have ever dreamed. "He partially died against Doomsday and now..."

"This is getting confusing," Chloe remarked and Zatanna fired a smile back to her.

"You have no idea how confusing something like this could get. But that's magic for you."

Zatanna inhaled and exhaled before she focused everything that was on her mind. The dark haired woman turned her head around a little bit before she brushed her hair back.

"I think the best way to find Harry is some kind of locating spell and with any luck, we can find Kara and Karen. If we use the link the two of you share, we could find him easily."

Chloe felt herself relax at that that was something that she could get on board with rather easily. It was a matter of getting the right link established. However, they could do it, they could most certainly do it, all they could do was...

Lois burst in to interrupt that train of thought.

"Lois, we're...what is it now?"

Lois brushed off Chloe's annoyance.

"I know you said that you didn't want to be bothered but this is something that you should be bothered about," Lois responded in a breathless voice before she turned a little bit, twisting her head a little bit. "You know, Lana and I, we were trying to break our way into the Fortress and we found someone around there, another Kryptonian."

Chloe's interest was grabbed immediately. "Really?"

"I know, tell me about it, for a race that supposed to have been mostly killed, there does seem to be a lot of them lurking around," Lois answered when she looked at Chloe and Zatanna. "Lana's searching for our mysterious Kryptonian but that's not the strangest part. She seems to think that we're working for someone named Zod."

_'Zod, oh boy there goes the neighborhood,' _Chloe thought but she shook her head, there was nothing for her to worry about. There was no indication that this was nothing more than the ramblings of someone who was confused on Earth.

Six weeks was a long time for everything to go to hell in a handbasket.

"Lois, let's worry about getting everyone back together before we figure this out," Chloe answered when she closed her eyes and sighed.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry to upset you," Lois responded when she shook her head, a smile crossing her face. "You're worried about Harry."

"Always," Chloe remarked when she turned to Zatanna, busisness like as usual. "Let's see what we can do."

Zatanna nodded before she locked onto Chloe's bond link to Harry and tried to track him down to where he was. She frowned when she slid back on the chair a little bit and figured that this was going to be a bigger challenge then she previously thought.

"What is it, where is he?" Chloe asked, she could not make heads or tails of anything.

"He's on an island somewhere, but it's made unplottable...that is there's some kind of magic that prevents it from being put on a map or prevents any tracking spells from picking up an exact location," Zatanna offered, wishing she could give more information. She was worried about Harry as well, where he could be. He could be held captive or something.

"So, we just search every single island until we find him," Lois answered but then her eyes snapped open when she realized. "That sounds a whole of a hell lot more easier in my head then it did coming out of my mouth."

"You can say that again," Chloe stated when she hoped that things would turn out for the better, even though she feared the worst.

* * *

Harry spent the last few weeks on the island, healing and training, that was the two most important activities that he did. His Herald of Death powers returned slowly, but there was something different about them. He could not place how they were different straight away but he had a feeling that those answers would be returning in time.

The good news is that he was strong enough to go and find Karen and Kara, he missed them like a hole in his heart over the past few weeks. Chloe as well, he missed all of his wives. He hoped that he got the clean bill of health.

"Well, I can see you've made a full recovery," Diana remarked when she wrapped up another sparring session with Harry. She rubbed her elbow, feeling the burn of it.

"Sorry if I went a little rough of you," Harry responded but Diana shook her head and looked at him.

"I can handle anything that you dish out, we Amazons were bred for battle," Diana responded when she put her hands to her hips. At first, Harry was the one on the receiving end of most of the punishment but now as the days went by, he got better and better. Diana had a lot of respect for him and learned a lot about him, although there was a whole lot else about him that she was yet to learn.

Although she did hope to find out more about him.

"I understand that once you were one hundred percent, you need to leave, to find your wives," Diana answered when she stepped forward and placed her arms around Harry's waist. "I never thought...I never thought that I could find someone like you."

"Well, I kind of fell out of the sky," Harry stated with a cheeky grin towards her and she smiled. "I guess I touched the right artifact and I washed up on paradise."

"Mother actually approves of you, that's the weirdest thing of it all," Diana mused to herself, she had a feeling that her mother had some pretty bad experiences with man's world. She reminisced about a lover that she had that left her and broke her heart years ago. Then there was Diana's father, the man who took the term "fuck 'em and then forget 'em" to an entirely new level but that was beside the point.

"Your mother is a woman who wants the best for you I think," Harry responded when he wrapped his arms around her. Diana sympathized with his frustration, his inability to find his Alpha and her double. "And you deserve the best in life."

Diana offered a bright smile to Harry, before she thought of the past few weeks together. They spent a great deal of time walking around the island, training together, and just hanging out. It was a nice break all things considered from the non-stop training on the island. There was few times where Diana felt she could let her hair down and be herself but with Harry, she was able to do so.

Plus Harry was everything that she ever hoped for in a companion, someone that she could be herself with and not be all fierce and intense. She looked at him and realized that he had to be strong and loving to cater to many other women. He was an Alpha Male who could have any and as many women as he chose. That thought made Diana tingle a little bit.

The two sat down beside each other on a blanket, the night was getting pretty late, and Diana sat next to Harry.

"So, you're leaving tomorrow?" Diana asked him, placing a hand on his arm and looking at the only man that she ever knew and in some strange way, loved.

"You know, I've lingered a bit too long," Harry responded when he looked back at her. He studied every single inch of her. Her tall frame, her silky black hair that hung across her face, her blue eyes burning with passion and intensity that was quite frankly, well it was amazing. She wore a short white top that showed her cleavage and wrapped around her well-developed breasts, large and firm. Her tanned and toned midsection along with a sexy belly button was next when his eyes swam down her, he drank in the vision of womanly beauty before him.

Her tight jean shorts were next, curved around her hips and her legs.

"Harry, I've noticed something in battle, as the weeks go by, you seem to be more intense," Diana responded when she wrapped her arms around him, her breast pressing against his cheek. "It's almost like...well you have a lot of pent up energy that you need to exercise. Even Artemis commented that you're a handful out there."

Harry decided that the truth was the best; he hoped that she would believe it.

"Well...I've told you that I have a lot of powers."

Diana nodded when she waved her hand and waited for Harry to tell her the rest of what he had in mind.

"One of those powers...well it can do strange things to my mind, unless I have the proper grounding," Harry stated when he looked at Diana. "That's one of the reasons why I have to leave. I'm on an island with hot women; it's getting harder and harder to control a lot of these urges."

Diana raised an eyebrow before she placed a hand on Harry's thigh. This caused him to shiver a little bit. "Are these urges of a sexual natural?"

"As my powers get stronger, so does my need to feed them, powerful wizards need a lot of sex to keep their powers stable," Harry answered towards Diana, feeling her hand on his bare leg and he could have sworn it moved up a little bit. "It sounds like it's a cheap attempt to get sex, I know."

Diana looked towards Harry with a firm expression in her eyes. "No Harry, I know you're honest, you could have had any of us at any time you want. You could have taken us down and done anything that you want with us. And most of us...well we would have succumbed to you."

"You are a powerful race of women," Harry offered with a raised eyebrow.

Diana offered Harry a shifty expression. "Sometimes those who are dominant on the battle field are the most submissive in the bedroom. Trust me."

Harry wanted to trust her and she edged closer.

"Don't hold back, you can't hurt me on the battle field and you can't hurt me in other matters as well," Diana stated when she edged closer and whispered in Harry's ear, her hot breath connecting with the side of his ear. "I want you badly, we Amazons need our grounding every now and then, too."

She swung her legs over his hips and sit on Harry's lap, straddling him and she unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his muscular chest. She approved of what she saw, Diana's lips moistening when she ran her tongue over it.

"If this has to be goodbye, then let's do it in style," Diana stated before Harry snaked his arms around her and pulled her into a deep kiss, his tongue probing into her mouth. She returned the favor, their tongues clashing together for dominance.

Harry pushed Diana back on the blanket, and kissed the side of her neck. The dark haired Amazon sighed when Harry's mouth worked over her neck and licked behind her ear, before she reached her hand down his trousers, grabbing clasping him.

"Well what do we have here?" Diana asked in a hungry voice, when she licked her lips.

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

Diana and Harry relaxed after their activities but there was a scream from Donna. There was a moment where Diana feared the worst. The two of them threw their clothes on rather quickly.

"Where is Harry?"

Harry smiled, he recognized Karen's voice anywhere and he could tell that she was not going to be too nice playing with the natives. He arrived with Diana walking behind him, and the two of them saw Diana's sister staring down Karen.

"Depends on who wants to know?" Donna persisted in a stubborn voice but Kara stepped in. She opened her mouth but smiled when she saw him.

"HARRY!"

Kara sped in at a blur and threw her arms around Harry, kissing him passionately. Her legs locked onto him, when her lips met him with a ballistic fury. Her hands ran through his hair, and Karen stepped back, before she moved forward.

"Kara, don't hog him, I know you're the Alpha, but let me smother him a little bit," Karen stated when she smiled.

Kara's eyes turned towards Karen with an expression that stated, "I'll stop kissing my husband when I'm good and ready, thank you."

"Kara, I missed you...what happened?" Harry breathed but Karen's mouth took over where Kara's left off. Karen and Harry exchanged a passionate kiss, each trying to use their tongue to probe the inside o the other's mouth.

Kara waited for Karen to get it out of their system, although once the three of them got home, they would be getting a lot more pent up frustrations out of their system.

"Well, we touched the altar...and then we woke up a few days ago, it was weird," Kara responded when she shook her head. She placed her arm around Harry. "Nothing happened to us; at least I don't think anything happened."

Kara wished she could find out before too soon, there were five weeks missing from her and Karen's memories that were driving her up a wall. She had a feeling they went somewhere and saw something, but it was bugging her. The memories were slipping out of the back of her head.

Harry decided an introduction was in order. "This is Diana, she's the princess of the Amazons."

Karen smirked when she looked at the woman who stepped back. This was Harry's Alpha and likely his Beta as well, she felt that knowing her place and showing her proper respect was necessary. "You must be Kara and Karen, it is an honor to meet both of you."

"Pleased to meet you as well Diana," Kara responded when she shook the hand of this woman, she had a strong grip. She paused a little bit before adding as an afterthought. "And thank you for helping Harry whilst he was on the island. He does need the proper grounding all things considered."

"So he explained, I wish he would have explained sooner," Diana responded when she turned around and Karen smiled.

"Well that's Harry, stubborn to a fault."

"You have room to talk," Harry stated, playfully looking at his wife. She smiled back at him, before she wrapped her arms around him, resting her head on his broad chest.

"We'll get off the island tomorrow and check in with everyone."

Diana shifted a little bit but Harry offered her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, we'll come back to visit you or maybe you could come to visit us."

"Working with my mother to get permission to come off the island, it's like getting blood from a turnip," Diana remarked, if there ever was an apt analogy. "I think we need something to eat."

"Yeah, I'm famished," Kara agreed stretching a little bit before she added with a bright smile crossing her face. "But it's dessert that we need later."

Little did the three Heralds and Diana know that another figure followed them to the island and she watched them carefully through violet eyes. She would force them to tell how this ring worked. There had to be others out there but she arrived in Britain to find out that there were no magical users that were left.

The Dark Lord had to have taken over, he should have, there must be another explanation for this.

There was another figure in the shadows, having returned from the future with Kara and Karen. She knew that this woman would slaughter many of her kind in the future and lead to the final fall of Krypton, even more so than the traitor known as Kal-El did.

She would not all that to happen. Bellatrix Lestrange would perish by her hand for she was the butcher of Kandorians, and then Kal-El was next, who was a traitor to his kind who welcomed him with warm arms. And then Lily Evans, who betrayed Zod at his most crucial moment, she was third on her hit list.

* * *

Tess's eyes flickered open when she tried to move her arms. Moving her arms turned out to be extremely difficult when she was tied down to the bed. She tried to get herself free with one movement, then two, then three. All movements caused her to stall and she tried to rattle her chains. She pushed herself up, breathing heavily, the sweat pouring down her face when she shifted on the bed.

"Let me...let me go!" Tess managed in a raspy voice, she remained demanding. She realized that she was in a pretty bad situation and she had a feeling her situation wasn't going to improve any time soon.

She turned around and saw the woman standing over her, with a smile on her face. She wore a black t-shirt that stretched over her developed upper body, along with black blue jeans. Her red hair hung down to her back and her green eyes pierced at her, behind a pair of eye glasses. She wore high heeled boots that Tess figured that this woman could stomp her flat with if she wanted to.

"You are still demanding as ever, I see," Lily remarked with a smile. "You had the orb, so I'm sure you had plans for the orb. Well you can forget those plans, for they're now my plans to assist the true savior of Kandor."

Tess knew that the next few words sound cliche but she had to say them never the less and she practically spat them out. "You won't get away with this."

A bright smile popped over Lily's face when she looked down, holding her hands on the side of Tess's head. "There is a lot that you'll find that I can get away with and even more that you can do nothing about."

She popped her tongue when she emphasized those last words.

Tess felt trapped as a prisoner in her own house and she hated it, the chains wrapped around her list had no give. She realized that this woman could kill her at any time she wanted. And that fact made her hate the situation that she was in even more, her arms becoming numb when she turned her wrist around, trying to make the chains give way.

"Struggle as you might, there is no way out," Lily answered with a cheerful and bright smile when she looked down at Tess, lightly stroking her hair. It was done in a mocking and condescending manner. "I'm sure you think of yourself as some kind of savior or perhaps that you have this situation well under hand. You have no idea what you brought upon yourself the moment that you brought that orb into your home."

Tess decided to fire it back at her. "I'm not sure you know."

"I always know, I'm always in control," Lily stated, before she continued to run her fingers through Tess's head. "Let's face facts, little girl, you aren't going to get the better of me. I know where you come from and I know your type. Behind that facade of bravado, is a scared little girl who is crying out for a hug."

Tess could not resist retorting when she could. "And I'm sure you haven't taken a good look in the mirror lately."

Lily's mouth curled in a thin lipped smile. "Maybe, maybe not, wouldn't you like to know?"

Tess would liked to know but knew better than to push the buttons of her captor right now. If she inclined her head a little bit, she could see several people in the adjacent room, pacing like caged animals. Wherever they were, they were not alone.

"I'd tell you to stay there but those chains, you're not breaking free any time soon," Lily commented but all the same, she kept her eyes on Tess.

Tess knew that for once she was the pray instead of the predator and again that was a position she was unaccustomed to.

Lily walked out and saw a tall and imposing man with dark hair, dressed in a black trenchcoat, a wifebeater top, and slacks staring down her.

"So, it's you," the man responded when he looked at Lily. "I wondered if your hand was involved in our arrival."

Lily shrugged her shoulders, smiling a brief smile. "You know, Zod, you could show a little bit of respect to the person that let you out of your prison."

"I show respect to those that earn it," Zod responded when he eyed Lily but Lily did not back down at all.

"I'm sure you could crush me like an ant with your powers," Lily answered but then a smug smile appeared on her face. "Okay, actually there's two tiny problems with that. For one, the big vulnerability of Kryptonians underneath the yellow sun is magic. Unless of course they have magic themselves but really magic users are equally vulnerable to magic so we swing back around to square one. And the fact you don't have your abilities, now that's kind of a problem, isn't there?"

Lily offered him a sweet, innocent little smile and Zod's eye twitched when one of his soldiers stated the question. "The battle at Kandor passed and we woke up here. Now we're here under the yellow sun and we have no powers, why is that?"

Lily's eyes twinkled a little bit, she knew why they didn't have any powers. Jor-El contaminated the orb and realized of the dangers of letting these many Kandorians free on Earth. There were ways to restore their powers.

"I wish to find the same answers you seek, but we must work together to do so, find the others, there will be others, many others," Zod responded when he turned towards his fellow Kandorians, all of them looking at him.

"It seems to me that this witch knows of what happened to our powers."

The three soldiers standing there fixed their eyes on Lily but she was calm and collected, nothing could phase her.

"Maybe I know, maybe I don't."

"Maybe we should make you talk," one of the soldiers stated when he fired a bullet towards Lily.

Lily, with reflexes that were unmatched, stopped the bullet in mid air with well-placed charm.

"That was..." Lily responded when her eyes narrowed before she propelled the bullet back at super speed with a second charm. "The stupidest thing you could have ever done."

The bullet struck the head of the guard, killing him instantly. The other two stood down for now, knowing that firing upon this woman would likely get them the same treatment.

"I have powers and you don't!" Lily said in a sing-song voice, mocking the Kandorians with the glint in her eye. Zod longed to strangle her but kept himself in check. "I believe that puts the ball in my court and not yours, doesn't it?"

"For the moment," Zod stated through gritted teeth when he looked back at Lily.

"Yes for the moment," Lily agreed when she heard about her captor. "You said that there were others."

Zod agreed with a nod. Lily continued to speak to him. "Then it would be prudent to find them, because powerless people who tend to show up out of nowhere tend to not last too long. The government is always interested in picking these people up."

"They would be considered barbarians, then," Zod responded when his eyes locked towards Lily's.

Lily responded back with a crisp answer. "Then they must...they must be taught the proper amount of culture."

She had her own plan regarding the orb but that was something to be determined at another time. It was a matter of first earning Zod's trust. She knew that her son would be going through an evolution of his powers around this time, if what she thought came to pass did come to pass. The destroyer was destroyed and Kal-El...well she could take or leave him, because his destiny did not figure into her plan.

Harry would lead a new race over this world and all of the flaws that lead to human suffering would be eliminated. Lily's dream would be a reality and her son and his mates would be the supreme rulers of this world. All crime, disease, and suffering would be eliminated. Lily felt this dream get closer, and Zod would be a means to an end to put the s to the world into Harry's hands.

It was all for her son, just like it always had been.

* * *

"I thank you for your hospitality Queen Hippolyta, and I hope that you will give me your permission to return to the island, when I feel the need to," Harry answered before he paused. "You have my word that I will not divulge the exact location of the island to anyone."

Kara and Karen nodded, they agreed to do the same thing. They did not want to be pushed out of this island, and it would be a nice place to head to regroup.

"I know you will," Hippolyta stated, when she looked at the three visitors through her eyes. Harry noted that if he did not know that she was Diana and Donna's mother, he would have suspected that she would be their older sister. "And I thank you for not proving my daughter wrong when you arrived on this island. I do admit, that there are many of us on this island that have our doubts but over the past six weeks, you've stayed and you've done well."

"Not to mention you've knocked some uppity Amazons down a peg," Donna responded, she liked her people but damned if they could get uptight. Seeing someone from man's world besting them in combat, well that was a treat.

Although some of those bitches really needed to get laid but perhaps someone could help them out with that.

She hoped that Harry would come back to visit. Diana got her turn with him, now she wanted her own. She was half tempted to sneak off and follow Harry, Kara, and Karen home but she knew that her mother would skin her alive if she tried to even consider such a thing.

"I agree with the sentiments of my daughter although perhaps she could use a bit more tact," Hippolyta stated, when she offered Donna an expression that told her teenage daughter to cool it. "Diana has taken a shine to you and you are of course welcomed to come back. And I give her full permission to visit you at any time, I feel that there is much work to be done, bridging the island with man's world. Perhaps it is time for us to stop hiding in the shadows."

"I'm sure but I have to warn you, not all of the world is like Harry," Kara stated, she clutched her husband's hand and smiled. It was one in the million.

Hippolyta smiled back.

"I'm sure that we can open the eyes of others and hopefully lead the path. I do agree that there are many flaws in that world, some that I've focused on for much too long. But I don't think that it is unfair to say that the Amazons are not without their flaws."

Kara, Karen, and Harry decided now was the time to depart.

_'We need to get back and figure out what the hell happened in the missing six weeks,' _Karen thought to them when she closed her eyes. _'I...I don't like it, memories wiped, we had to live that time.'_

_'I know we saw something, red sun, that's what I keep seeing, that's the only flash I keep seeing,' _Kara answered when she thought to herself. _'And Harry's grave.'_

This caused Harry to jump up and stare.

_'My grave...that's...foreboding,' _Harry thought to both of his girls who grabbed onto his hands and squeezed tightly, drawing in a breath.

_'Yeah, but that's not going to happen,' _Kara thought, with strong conviction in her thoughts.

Diana arrived before them.

"I didn't want to let you leave without saying goodbye," she stated, before she threw her arms around Harry and gave her another kiss. The two of them exchanged a kiss.

Kara watched her and grabbed Diana the moment she retracted from Harry, before she smashed her lips against Diana's mouth with a searing kiss. Diana had been kissed by other women before but Kara...she was on a league all to her own. Her tongue worked her way into Diana's mouth and made her feel sexual fire rise up between her legs. She shuddered, really feeling the pleasure course through her.

Karen was about to do the same, but suddenly an explosion ran out and they turned around.

Harry saw the person on the island, standing before them.

"I don't know who you are, but I know you can use magic and you will tell us where the rest of us went."

She might not have known Harry but Harry knew her, her name was Bellatrix Lestrange, although she looked much younger than she did when Harry saw her die.

That wasn't the first thing tonight that raised a red flag in Harry's mind that something was up and he was pretty sure that he was not going to like it.

* * *

Chloe's eyes snapped up when she heard a knock on the door and she heard a pop.

She saw it on the ground, there was a box with the symbol of Death.

_'The third key,' _she thought when her eyes widened.

The real question was who delivered it and how did they find it? Actually the real question that Chloe had was this some kind of trick? After everything that happened, she was on the edge and she called up the security camera footage.

There was a period of one minute where everything blanked completely and Chloe gnashed her teeth in frustration.

"Chloe, I think we found your mystery attacker."

Chloe turned around to see Lois standing there.

"She's been busy," Lois stated grimly, dropping the newspaper clippings of all of the murders, some in the United States and some in Europe. Others had been found, in a drooling and vegetative state, so people who died were the lucky ones.

Chloe thought about this and knew what was on the line.

Her wrist burned with the death symbol. There was a beckoning of it, for her to touch her wrist.

Chloe had no choice and threw everything out the window. She touched her fingers to the death symbol on her wrist and disappeared.

Lois turned her head for one second and Chloe was gone.

"CHLOE, OH MY GOD!"

She really wished she had some answers now and Lana still tracking down their mysterious Kryptonian, who was rambling on about this Zod guy and how she and Lana were working for him.

_'Things made a lot more sense when I was blissfully ignorant now that I think about it,' _Lois thought to herself.

She tried to figure out how this high tech computer equipment that Harry had worked but it seemed like the only four people in the universe capable of understanding it were Harry, Kara, Karen, and Chloe.

* * *

"Why isn't this working?"

Raya asked this question, and not for the first time in six weeks.

"It should be working but there is something wrong," Lara responded fretfully. "It's an internal struggle between life and death. Kal-El's body remains alive but..."

"His soul is in limbo, I know," Raya answered when she closed her eyes. "He's alive but he has no sense of being."

The stasis chamber Clark rested in flashed to light before his eyes glowed and he busted out.

"Kal-El?" Raya asked in a tentative voice.

"I'm back...I don't want to talk about it," Clark breathed heavily.

"I shall tell Lois and Lana that you have awakened," Raya stated when she turned around but Clark grabbed her firmly on the wrist.

"Not now, not yet, there's something I need to do first," Clark responded when he took a moment to think things through. "I'm ready to do it."

"Are you referring to your training, Kal-El?" Jor-El asked in a crisp voice.

Raya frowned; there was something off putting about Clark. He would never be the same after what ordeal his soul went through in limbo.

Lara had a feeling of foreboding about this decision but she was allowing Jor-El to do what he pleases for now, while she prepared to exercise damage control later.

**To Be Continued in Part Two. **


	2. Chapter 2: Waking Up Part Two

**Chapter Two: Waking Up Part Two. **

Harry knew one thing, he was in for a battle, for Bellatrix Lestrange was one of Voldemort's most formidable Death Eaters. The fact that she slipped on a banana peel and got killed by an overbearing housewife was remembered by him, but it was Bellatrix's arrogance that defeated her and not any skill on the part of the person that defeated her. Harry, Kara, and Karen stood together, the wind blowing through their hair when they braced themselves for the fight.

"Where are they?" Bellatrix asked in her most dangerous voice, before she shrieked at the top of her lungs. "WHERE ARE THEY?"

"I don't really know who you're talking about," Harry responded when he blocked a blast of purple light and turned around, twisting on his heel. He swung for the fences and sent a blast of red light towards her but she ducked and dodged each every attack.

"They can't all have been dead, I know you did something, you are the destroyer of our world," Bellatrix stated but it was at this point where Kara flew at her at super speed and prepared to strike hard.

A shield appeared around Bellatrix and Kara struck it at super speed. She cracked her face against it and flew back into Harry's arms. He caught her, and helped her stand on her feet, with her heart beating steady.

Karen, Kara, and Harry let out a triple attack of their heat vision but Bellatrix used another charm to block these assaults and strike out harder.

_'There is no way she should be this powerful,' _Harry thought when he blinked his eyes.

_'No way, but she is,' _Karen thought when they tried to use their super breath to throw her off guard.

_'Yet, she is,' _Kara thought to them all, trying to find a way to get around. _'Think, there's got to be a way for us to get around here, she can't be invincible, there's no way, no how, that she could be invincible."_

"Either you tell me what happened, or I will make you pay," Bellatrix stated, her eyes blood shot and her tone nasty, with the malice dripping from her words. She would make them suffer.

Diana watched the battle from the edge and decided to rush forward, joining in. This woman was not the friendly type, in fact she was the type that gave all women a bad name. Bellatrix tried to shot a blast of green light towards Diana but Harry teleported in front of her to take the hit. He thought for sure he was going to get knocked into another out of body experience.

That was not quiet what happened, rather his body began to glow in the light, and his eyes glowed as well. Instead of being taken down by the Killing Curse, his body was empowered, and the energy made him stronger. He blasted Bellatrix with the light but she dodged the attack with reflexes that were not dulled by years in Azkaban. It came to Harry's attention that this version of Bellatrix Lestrange, she was much stronger, much savvier, and much more able to fight.

"I'll make you tell me," Bellatrix responded when she looked at Harry with sadistic intentions in mind.

"We're at a stalemate right now," Harry responded when he stood in a battle stance, waiting for her to strike.

"Perhaps," Bellatrix responded with a grin twisting on her face and she sent flaming purple daggers at Harry but he dodged it and he fired back, whipping his wand. She dodged her powers. "That orb that I came from, it empowered me, even if the rest in that orb lacked their abilities."

"Orb?" Kara asked, but she recalled something. "It's..."

Kara never got to finish her statement but another figure showed up, dark hair, with blue eyes that were locked onto Bellatrix.

"It's a party now," Bellatrix responded but the woman stalked the witch.

"You won't live to harm another life, butcher," the woman stated in a crisp voice, when she locked eyes with the woman who murdered many of them, including General Zod. Kal-El and Lily Potter's betrayal set the stage for that final fatal blow, just before Bellatrix Lestrange transfigured Zod's heart into Kryptonite.

"Have we met?" Bellatrix asked but the woman flew at her, a knife in her hand, before she aimed at her throat. Bellatrix dodged the attack, before she turned around, a twisted grin spreading over her face.

"Could anyone please explain to me what's going on here?" Diana asked in confusion when she watched the progress of the two women who fought each other with great fury. She looked at Harry, Kara ,and Karen, all of them who looked rather tense when they watched the battle.

"That's a good question," Harry remarked, wishing that he had the answer but he had nothing, but another flash of light appeared when someone dropped down from the sky in front of him. The dust cleared, when Harry saw her standing there. "Chloe?"

"Harry?" Chloe asked, feeling pleased to see her husband but also very confused given the nature of how she arrived here. "Would you explain what's going on here?"

"Sure, when I figure it out myself," Harry stated when he continued to watch the battle between these two wicked woman. He had no idea where the mystery woman came from or why she had such a mad-on for Bellatrix. Now he focused on picking the dark witch apart and ending her once and for all.

"You can't defeat me..."

The mysterious woman ripped Bellatrix's wand out of her hand and nearly her hand off, before she snapped it in half. Bellatrix screamed in anger.

"You're not so tough without your little magic stick, are you?" the woman practically taunted Bellatrix but the nasty witch gave a spiteful grin.

"If you know me, you should know that I am very versatile," Bellatrix responded, before she pulled a dagger out of her sleeve and plunged it into the stomach of her enemy.

Said enemy dropped to her knees, blood splattering out of her stomach. She looked towards Harry, Karen, and Kara.

"You must save us...save Kandor...you are our only hope."

She passed out and sputtered to a slow death from the blood loss. This gave Harry Potter a moment to dive in and grab Bellatrix around the throat. Kara and Karen used their heat vision to melt the dagger out of her hand.

"You're like a fungus that won't just go away!" Bellatrix screamed when she scratched at Harry's face, before she activated the ring and vanished into a time hole.

"She has the legion ring, maybe I should have warned you about that?" Chloe asked before she paused and looked guilty. "And yeah that's kind of my fault, I took out the Legion Ring, I thought about going back twenty four hours..."

"Chloe, your intentions, whilst noble, would have made matters worse," Harry stated in an exasperated tone of voice when he looked at his wife and she nodded.

"Yeah, I got that when the wicked witch of the midwest knocked me out of a window," Chloe answered when she turned around.

"How is Clark?" Kara asked suddenly. "Did he beat Doomsday or..."

"Yeah, about that," Chloe responded when she turned around. "I don't suppose you can shed some light on what happened. To make a long story short, Clark's body is alive but his soul isn't."

"That's...unprecedented," Harry responded but he checked the life line reading. "Doomsday served his objective."

"What?" Chloe asked in confusion so Harry decided to clarify a bit more.

"He killed Kal-El but Clark Kent is alive," Harry responded to her and Chloe frowned, raising an eyebrow.

"Could you clarify that statement, please, a little bit more?"

Kara looked at Chloe, before deciding to take up the explanation. "I...well Clark's always lived a dual life in some respects. There's mild mannered Clark Kent and there's Kal-El of Krypton. His inability to find a balance between the two sides has caused him problems in the past. And now he sacrificed Kal-El for Clark Kent to leave. And I fear...his powers might be waning or even gone should he wake up."

"That's gone from bad to worse," Chloe stated when she looked at the trio and this woman that she did not know, hovering around in the background, an awkward witness to this conversation. "Lana, Lois, and I we got our powers back, with generous upgrades. I'm guessing the Powers that Be decided that we were worthy of them."

Chloe shook her head.

"Aren't the least bit worried that psycho-witch has her hands on a powerful ring that can send her anywhere in time?" Chloe asked Harry but he shrugged.

"Not exactly, given the most she can do is go one hour back or one hour forward. That ring, I set it to where only I can access the greater time travel capabilities."

Chloe figured that was the case, which made her mad plan to save them all that more useless.

"And I set a tracker on her," Harry responded when he looked at Chloe. "Strictly speaking, she could keep doing time jumps forward, forward, forward, or back, back, back, but she'd end up burning up the ring or burning herself out."

Harry paused before he decided that introductions were long over due.

"Chloe, meet Diana, the newest member of our little group," Harry responded when Chloe looked at the woman who towered over her.

"Well, this is new," Chloe answered when she shook hands with Diana, who towered over her. "Please to meet you."

"Likewise," Diana responded but Harry had to figure out what he needed to do with their mysterious friend. When she died, she said something about Kara, Karen, and Harry being the only people to be able to save Kandor. He wanted to find out more about that if he could.

* * *

They were back at the Shining Light Foundation, with Harry on the phone.

"Thanks Megan, I know Claire's been worried sick, tell her that we're back...thanks again for keeping an eye on her, I owe you big time," Harry responded when he spun around and Kara saw the woman.

"The marking on her back, it's a family symbol," Kara responded when she turned around. "I've done some background checks on the computer from my ship, since the Fortress has been locked out. Her name is Alia, she's from the Ter line on Krypton. She was a soldier in the Kandorian army but she died in Zod's attempted siege before he got sent to the Phantom Zone."

"So she's dead but she's tried to kill Bellatrix...I'm sorry but I'm not following any of this at all," Karen responded when she turned around. "What the hell happened in the six weeks we were gone?"

"Well Lois, Lana, and I got back our powers," Chloe reminded them. "Oliver and the rest of the gang...they pulled a disappearing act. Except for Batman but he went back to Gotham City to do the Batman thing. Raya took Clark back into the Fortress for his healing and...Tess Mercer has disappeared."

Harry slammed his head up and turned to face Chloe.

"She disappeared around the same time that you guys did," Chloe stated when she looked at Harry. "The day everything went to hell."

"Tess is gone, Clark is...what Clark is, and there's a psychotic witch with a time ring going after me, hopefully she's not resourceful enough to bypass my fail safes," Harry responded when he began to access the Shining Light Foundation computers. "And then we have...we have this Alia girl, do you remember what happened?"

Karen and Kara both shrugged before Kara answered. "I...I have a feeling that we should remember it. Like I said, all I remember is a red sun and your grave."

Karen held her head down to the side; she did not want to think about what would happen if Harry died. The world would be doomed; there was no question about it. Clark simply wasn't ready and she wondered if a day would be come if he would ever be ready. Harry held the world together, sure there were other heroes but they should know that they didn't do a fraction of what Harry was doing.

"We need to get to the Fortress," Kara responded, she wanted to see what the damage to her cousin was.

"Tried to, locked out," Chloe responded with an apologetic shrug.

"We'll worry about that later, bigger fish...ah Bella there you are, now you're mine," Harry stated with a calculating grin.

His prey stumbled into his net and now it was time to cash in.

* * *

"I'm confused, are my powers..."

Clark stood in the middle of the Fortress, bathed by the blue light, the Kryptonian symbols surrounding him when he watched everything around him. He felt like he lost a huge piece of himself after the battle with Doomsday. His mind was more confused than ever before and Jor-El seemed to be reluctant to part with the answers. Even his mother, who was more forthcoming with the answers, decided to remain mute.

Lara decided that the truth, while nasty and often times hurtful would be the best thing to tell her son at this present point. "Kal-El, your powers, once you defeated the destroyer, you sacrificed a part of them to save the Clark Kent side of yourself but you sacrificed much more."

Clark wondered how there could be two sides to himself but Lara was only happy to explain.

"The Clark Kent side of yourself was repressed once you were exposed to the liquids of the Lazarus Pit, but over time you returned because that was the dominant side of yourself. Now your Kal-El side is slowly dying. We all have two sides to ourselves Kal-El, but in your case, the duality has increased, with there many more than two sides. You have done much in the name of saving humanity but you have also sacrificed a great deal of your Kryptonian heritage in your attempts to save them."

"How is this possible?" Clark asked, he could not believe that this was the case.

There was an unspoken statement that Lara blamed Jor-El for this event and they would be having a discussion when their son departed the Fortress.

Jor-El chimed in with a few years of his own. "As your mother had said, it is all about finding a balance which you had failed to do. Whilst I wish that you would embrace your Kyptonian heritage fully...there are two sides to you. And you walk that fine line. If you do not learn to accept that side of you as much as you do your human upbringing, your powers will be forfeit and all will be lost."

"Surely there is something that you can do," Clark begged when he looked at the Fortress.

"As much as I think it is rushing the matter, I think that there is only one way for you to accomplish that heritage," Lara responded when she blinked and thought about it. "Your training may hold the keys to your powers, but I fear that….well it is a necessity, unfortunately."

Lara wondered if it was possible to kill her husband for the position that she put their son in.

Clark paused for a moment, Jor-El wanted him to begin his training almost four years ago and he neglected to do so. He wondered if any of this would even happen if he had not stepped forward and done his training. Guilt filled his body, he wanted none of this.

"The decision is yours, but it would be for the best," Lara stated, not wanting this for her son and a part of her blamed her husband for this. The Doomsday incident was all on Jor-El's head.

"I will do what I have to do to succeed, I won't fail," Clark stated, he was sick and tired of being the weakest link while everyone else had powers. Sick and tired of things being out of his control and being in the control of others.

"You must find this balance, it is not about completely embracing your Kryptonian heritage, but equally embracing all sides of you," Lara explained once more, it was hard to convey this notion to her son and wished she could do so clearly. "We understood there was a possibility that this would happen."

"How will I do it?" Clark asked when he raised an eyebrow. "How will I know?"

Lara's part of the Fortress blinked. "You will know when your heart believes in it. I cannot give you a time table on when you embrace this part of you. It may be years before you figure this balance out, everyone goes at their own pace and it is all different with you."

"But it may be too late," Clark pleaded when his heart thumped wildly when he turned his head around.

"It cannot be rushed for the sake of being on someone else's time table," Lara stated when she hoped to convey a warmness towards her son. "If you fail, then no one will think less of you."

"If I fail, I will think less of myself," Clark managed when he hung his head.

"Self-pity, one of the more frustrating human emotions," Lara mused in frustration.

"Yes, but it's hard not to pity myself after what has happened," Clark argued heavily.

"You pity yourself because that is what you are doing," Lara answered when she blinked. "Do what you must to achieve this balance, to achieve your goals, not your destiny as your father claims, but your goals. It is in the palm of your hands my son."

"Do you wish to begin your training, Kal-El?" Jor-El asked. "It is time for you to step forward and understand what this destiny is?"

Clark stepped forward into the light but he felt conflict. His heart was not into it.

"What's wrong now?" Clark demanded, wanting to frustrate.

"Your heart still goes in a certain direction," Lara offered him in a pained tone as she sighed. "Or rather your heart is with your human side, you still believe that you are one hundred percent Clark Kent and Kal-El has no meaning to you. You gave up on that side of you with the battle with the Destroyer, and within days, what remains of your powers will be forfeit."

"There has to be some way, some other way," Clark stated when he practically pleaded with his parents to help him but he felt like his pleas fell on deaf ears. His heart thumped against his chest loudly.

"There is a way but I doubt you want to sacrifice much of your other side," Lara responded.

"That is why you must cut all of your ties from that world, for you to reclaim the powers that are needed to survive the world," Jor-El responded and Clark looked confused.

"Cut all..."

"Leave them all behind, including your protectors, your friends, and your family," Jor-El responded when he stated this matter in a booming voice.

Lara seemed rather reluctant to go this far, frowning when she blinked. "It may not be that extreme but you best find a balance and soon...or much will be lost."

She could throttle Jor-El for suggesting such a thing. Granted, she knew it would work in restoring Kal-El's powers but at what cost? What cost would it be if he disconnected himself with everything that he knew and loved? That was something that Lara thought about when she considered her son, the trials and tribulation he went through and the trials and tribulations that were yet to come.

"Can I have some time to think about this?" Clark asked to them.

Before Jor-El could answer, Lara cut in. "Of course but remember, you should feel no pressure."

Clark sped off and the moment that he was gone, Lara lit into her husband.

"This is all your fault you know!" Lara yelled when her voice rattled throughout the Fortress.

"My fault? I am the greatest mind in all of Krypton…."

"Oh yes, Mr. Greatest Mind of All of Krypton, let me list your fundamental flaws!" Lara snapped sarcastically when she ticked them off. "Your first flaw, is tricking our son with a flawed representative of our niece to suck him into a cave wall so I can reprogram him. Speaking of which, what did you do to that poor girl that you brainwashed? Is she still trapped in the cave walls somewhere?"

Jor-El did not answer.

"Then you led our son on some demented scavenger hunt for stones of power and nearly got him killed in the process, when you could have been more forthcoming with what you wanted him to do and why these stones were so important," Lara responded when the Fortress rattled from her anger.

"But I…."

"Then you take away his powers to teach him a lesson because he did not return before the curfew that you set to him, putting both his life and the lives of his friends and family in process," Lara continued, building up a good head of steam. "And then you try to drive a wedge between him and the only blood family he has left, because you and Zor-El had a petty squabble years ago, that left Kara's mother dead I should add."

"Lara wait…"

"Then, here's the kicker, genius," Lara stated when she paused. "You have all of this insight, all of these resources, and you build an escape pod only large enough to contain a baby, and left it to chance that it would land in the right spot. What if the Kents didn't find the ship? What if the meteors crushed them? What if we were mistaken in them and they didn't pick up the child? What if the government picked up our child instead and had him in some lab for years and years, dissecting him and making him their lab rat? DID YOU EVEN THINK OF THAT?"

She was really into this now, this was therapy for her.

"I wanted to come with, I would have come with, if you had the sense to build a ship larger enough and if you would have swallowed your pride and used the same design that Zor-El used for Kara's ship, I could have, we both could have. But, no, you stated that this is Kal-El's destiny, he needs to leave alone."

Lara breathed heavily even though she didn't need to.

"And then, your little AI, which you use a flawed process, which removes all emotional attachment and thus all understanding of the plights your son goes through, including some of the same plights you went through," Lara added when she gained momentum. "But the great and powerful Jor-El doesn't want to admit that he might have flaws as much as the next person. No you have to be all high and mighty with a crystal the size of Kandor shoved up your…."

"Lara, you've proven your point," Jor-El responded when he remained even. "But it is Kal-El's destiny…."

"Oh for the love of Rao, just shut up about his destiny!" Lara screamed when she wished she had the ability to bang her head into something hard. "He won't have any destiny without his powers, all thanks to you! So just shut up and not one more word about it!"

Lara was not going to lie, that felt good.

* * *

Bellatrix offered a twisted expression on her face when it all came to her. She thought turning her head and realized everything.

They were all gone, all of them were dead.

They could not be gone, the Dark Lord was supposed to live forever and a day. None of this happening like she imagined. Bellatrix could have lashed out and attacked someone, destroying them all. Her fist curled together when her eyes blinked and her teeth gritted. There was a nasty expression that crossed her face.

"I don't think we fished what we were starting."

Harry Potter dropped down on the ground, going face to face with Bellatrix Lestrange.

"You have no wand," Harry responded when he looked down at her.

"What happened to our world?" Bellatrix demanded when she stared down the young wizard.

"We all died, we couldn't move forward, I'm the only one that's left," Harry responded when he sent a blast of red light towards Bellatrix but she ducked her head and rolled over to the side. She found herself knocked down to the ground but she got up back on her feet immediately. "Our world, we're all dead."

"We were strong, the Muggles couldn't have outlived us!" Bellatrix yelled before she tried a wandless curse to rip his organs out but he blocked it. Her wandless magic was not strong enough to match his. "The Dark Lord will rise again..."

"His time passed a long time ago," Harry stated curtly before he looked to the side and swooping down from the side, Kara super sped it and ripped the Legion Ring from her hand.

"NO, IT'S MINE!"

Bellatrix shrieked this at the top of her lungs and tried to attack Kara, but she dodged the attack. She motioned them to come forward. In response, Harry and Kara rushed forward, to knock her back off of her feet, and propel her back. She gave an inhumane shriek when her spine snapped slightly and her eyes rolled into the back of her head, when she slumped down onto the ground.

The dark haired witch was dead, with blood splattering from her mouth. After she tried to kill Chloe and she attacked Kara, Harry found his sympathy lacking. He wanted to know why she was here, given the fact that she was dead.

"Let's try and put more failsafes on this thing," Kara stated, holding Harry's hand, which had the Legion ring in it and it glinted in his eyes.

"Agreed," Harry responded when his heart thumped a little bit off of his chest.

What was this the beginning of something or nothing at all? That's what Harry wanted to know, he had more questions and not enough answers. Hopefully he could figure out he mysteries but he needed to figure out his powers even more. There was something wrong with his powers, he couldn't really figure out what that was.

* * *

Harry sat himself down at the table at the Shining Light Foundation, carefully taking a look at the blood that he drew from Bellatrix when she died. If he looked at what was in her blood, perhaps he could figure out something regarding her appearance here. He did not like it, he hated it in fact, and he watched the blood, before he carefully analyzed every single drop of the blood on the canvas.

"Well, I've figured it out," Harry responded to Chloe, Kara, and Karen, when he turned his head around.

"Figured out what, what did I miss...oh you're back."

Lois stopped in the doorway and watched, looking at Kara, Karen, and Harry.

"So did you figure out what happened when you did this mysterious disappearance act?" Lois asked but Chloe shrugged at her. "Yeah, I thought not, just another thing that I want to chalk up to the weird and unexplained files."

Lois paused before she decided to ask the question.

"Not to bother you with all that you have going on but there's something that I need to ask you about Clark..."

"Yeah, his powers might be gone, I know," Harry responded when he turned around.

"What his powers...you're not talking about the soul being dead thing are you?"

Harry turned to Lois, he wondered what Raya was telling her and Lana but that was not his part to meddle. "Clark sacrificed a part of himself to live on for another day. By all rights, his final battle with Doomsday was supposed to kill him."

"How do you know this?" Lois asked when she looked at him, confused.

Harry looked grim and decided to drop this bombshell. "His lifeline turned black before we got all of our powers pulled. And...I'm guessing his destiny changed twice. I'm thinking that there's some kind of power struggle with the highers up."

"I don't suppose you could ask them," Chloe responded when she focused on Harry.

Harry gave a pained smile. "They don't exactly have a Facebook page."

He decided to get himself back on track and turned his head a little bit, before he blinked and looked at the blood readings.

"Well this is strange, curious, most curious," Harry responded, channeling the spirit of Ollivander. "Bellatrix Lestrange is dead, and this version is a clone."

"You mean you had to fight some kind of cheap duplicate," Chloe commented when she turned her head around and Harry placed his hand on her.

"No not a cheap duplicate, a very good duplicate, she was not a cheap one, not at the slightest. She was a dangerous woman and she had all of her abilities. If I might make a guess, her memories were restored to a moment in time, before Azkaban, before I was even more. She was more focused and sharper without fifteen years under the tender loving care of the Dementors."

"All of these people coming back to life and a whisper of the orb," Kara stated when she looked at them all.

"Yeah things are weird, like with you," Lois stated when she looked at Kara with an accusing expression in her eyes.

Kara blinked and was confused. "With me?"

"After this all happened, I saw you and you acted like you didn't know me," Lois stated when she regarded Kara. Kara frowned when she looked at Lois. "I was there; I thought you lost your memory."

"Possible," Kara admitted grudgingly, it was disturbing her that she did not have more than scrambled memories for six weeks ago.

"Well if it wasn't you, than who was it?" Chloe asked when she looked at both Kara and Karen. "When I was flying out of that window, I could...I could have been a big blood smear on the pavement. That blonde blur saved me and..."

"We need answers," Harry responded but suddenly everyone in the room went rigid. His eyes blinked. "Um...guys?"

There was no one moving in the room and Harry turned his head a little bit before he found himself standing in the same room where Death met him when he got informed of the Herald of Death Powers. He watched and waited, when he saw a pedestal with a dozen robed figures in crimson red robes. He watched them carefully, turning his head around to see them.

"Greetings Harry Potter."

He raised an eyebrow, blinking a little bit to see what their game was. He had no idea what they were up to but he had a feeling that he was going to find out before too long. He shifted his weight and watched them, carefully taking his time to step towards them.

"We are the higher ups. We feel that it is our duty to inform you that Death has been displaced and will be replaced."

That was news for Harry and he decided to offer the question that burned the tip of his tongue.

"If Death is gone...how does the trafficking of those between the living and dead world happens?"

"Did you not think that we would not have contingency plans in place?" one of the higher ups stated, and Harry saw a pair of glowing yellow eyes between the robes, with the nasty looking fingernails that poked out from them. "We are allowing some to return for we believe that Death abused her powers, especially over the past thirty years. The only wise decision was to choose you as your champion but be warned that we will be watching you carefully as well. Those powers can be dangerous and can corrupt."

"All power can," Harry offered them as he tried to figure out what their game was.

"You are wise beyond the years of many, Harry Potter," one of the higher ups stated when they peered down at him. "There will be some who have returned from your old world, given that Death has claimed them too soon. They will be given another opportunity. There will be more who will be gifted abilities but be warned that we have a chance to revoke those powers at any given time if you do not toe the line."

Harry figured it out when he stared them down, he knew that Death likely tried to throw them underneath the bus for their abilities. He watched them all commune with each other. He had a concern to address with them.

"You brought people back to life. Can you..."

"If the balance is upset, then we can and Death in her obsessive attempt to maintain the balance has upset it greater than any of her heralds had in the past," one of the higher ups stated in a breathy voice. "We will be looking for a replacement to be groomed in that role, of the one who will be the passageway between life and death. This one, we have had our eye on her for countless years."

Harry had a complaint to give when he watched them all.

"You brought these people back," Harry stated when he looked at them. He figured out he needed to blame these people for the Bellatrix incident. "What if some of them can't cope with being brought back?"

"That is not our concern," the higher ups stated. "The feelings and desires of mortals are not something that we deem worthy in the grand scheme of life and death."

Harry blinked and he tried to reign himself in from snapping, even though he tried to keep his cool. And it was hard for him to keep his cool after everything that happened.

"Okay, but mark my words, this could backfire if you put them back in the world without context," Harry responded when he waited. "I feel like I'm more your janitor than your herald because I have to clean up all of the messes that you people made. And I'm caught in between some power struggle between you guys and the former Death."

"All happens for a purpose, young one, you shall not forget that ,and farewell," they stated without another word and Harry returned back to the real world.

Kara looked at Harry and saw his eyes widened when he blinked. She grabbed his sleeve and tugged on it.

"Harry?" Kara asked when she looked at Harry.

"We've got more work to do than I thought," Harry offered when he turned to explain to the group what happened.

He did wonder if the new Death would be checking in any time soon.

* * *

"I am at a loss for words as much as you all but I can assure you that I will find the answers that you all seek. This is a journey that we will all take together."

Zod turned carefully addressing the group at large when they stared him down. There were hundreds of Kryptonians crowding around, with Lily casually leaning back into the wall, watching and waiting. She would have her moment but she waited for Zod to stay his piece.

"I stand before you, my Kandorian brothers and sisters, and realize that we should all have powers underneath this yellow sun," Zod stated when he eyed the group and all of them nodded carefully, when they watched him. "There is something that happened upon our arrival that we were robbed of those powers but we will find out."

Zod paused but then he looked around at them.

"I recall much of what happened, there are two missing of our number, two that partaken in the experimentation, I was only the third to last," Zod stated when he watched them all. "Jor-El and Alura, they gave their blood as well, but they are not among us. They did not come before their brothers and sisters. There is something that they are hiding, is there not?"

The crowd of Kandorians became rather loud and Zod's face contorted into a slight grin, before he watched everything. His arms folded across his chest.

"I will find the answers and I will find them and I will restore your powers, or I shall die trying," Zod stated when he held his hand up, before he faced them all. "Rise before me."

The sitting group rose completely to their feet.

"Kneel before Zod," Zod responded when he watched them all and they sank to their knees, blinking and watching them all. "The answers you seek my children will be near. We just have to find the right person to find them."

His eyes turned towards the edge of the desk and he saw a brochure for the Shining Light Foundation poking out from underneath the clutter.

_'The answers may be closer than we all think,' _Zod thought when he watched them, all of them on their knees and waiting, for them.

Zod would wait and he would watch, before he turned to Lily.

"Unless you have a method to restore our powers," Zod responded to her but she shook her head.

"No, I don't have a way to restore your powers," Lily answered in a crisp voice but she then added with a smile. "But I will do what I can to find that method and make sure the people of this army get everything that is coming to them."  
She hid the calculating smile on her face when she said that last line.

* * *

Clark returned to the Kent Farm, it was harder to say goodbye than he thought, it was a lot harder than he thought. He wondered if Lois or Lana or both were here. He expected to really get to screamed and yelled at, even if this was not his fault. At least not this time, at least that's what he thought when placed his hands upon his hips.

He saw someone sitting in the kitchen and he was not Lana or Lois. Clark stepped forward, and saw a girl with brown hair sitting in the kitchen, with robes of red and gold trip, with a red headband on, and she stared him down.

"Who are you?" Clark asked her.

"I'm someone who has come here to give you a warning," the woman stated when she stared down Clark and he wondered what was going to happen. "Your name is Kal-El, is it not?"

"Kal-El?" Clark asked but he shook his head.

"Kara informed me that you would be sent here, it is surprising to see that you still return here, but you always find your way home," the young woman stated to him with a smile.

"You know...you know Kara?" Clark asked when he looked at this young woman.

"I knew her, yes," the woman stated, trying not to think about what happened to her best friend. She died along with everyone else that she knew on Krypton. "But you need to know this, and that is that if I'm here, that means he is coming."

"Who is coming?" Clark asked when he crossed his arms and inclined his head to the side.

"Zod is coming," she responded in a cryptic whisper and Clark immediately became suspicious, this was not something that he expected to here.

"Zod is in the Phantom Zone, he can't have gotten out," Clark stated when he eyed this mystery woman, carefully, suspiciously looking at her, he was not happy with this development.

"You don't get it and unless you put together the pieces, you never will, Kal-El," she responded when she looked at him. "You will be the beacon of hope this world needs, my parents believed that and others did so. There is a reason Jor-El sent you here."

"You know, I'm sick of people telling me about my destiny!" Clark stated hotly, when he looked at this woman. He was sick and tired of being told about his destiny and sick and tired of being the weak link when compared to everyone else but powers. "And you haven't answered my question about this. How can Zod be here?"

"Put the pieces together, Kal-El, it's not difficult. Think about what your father sent here. Or ask him, I know he's here as well. Providing you get to him before Zod does."

Clark moved forward to grabbed this woman but she vanished in a burst of flame, disappearing in the fire before his eyes. He winced when the fire actually hurt him and burned his hands. He looked up and saw his hands heal a little bit, when the fire touched him, and then he blinked a little bit.

"Clark, there you are."

Clark spun around and Kara spun around, before she looked at Clark. "Kara...there you are, what happened, you disappeared and left me to deal with Doomsday on my own."

Kara did not like the accusatory tone in Clark's voice. "I tried to get my powers restored, and it was your chance to step up to prove yourself. I can see it, your powers are nearly gone and you're struggling to hold onto them."

"I'm not struggling, I have everything perfectly under control," Clark stated but Kara scoffed on that, when she looked at Clark. Clark felt agitated about the accusatory expression on Kara's face. "What would you have me do?"

"The right thing, it's time for you to make the choice that is best for you," Kara stated when she turned around.

The words that Clark would betray the Kryptonian race echoed through her mind but she refused to believe it. Well at least completely but something happened with him. There was a part of her memories that Kara latched onto.

"Harry and I can help you, one more time, one last time," Kara responded when she turned around to eye her cousin. "We can restore your powers completely and one hundred percent."

"At what cost?" Clark asked when he looked at Kara.

"Why do you mistrust me, Clark?" Kara asked when she looked at him.

"You ran off without telling anyone and left me to deal with Doomsday alone," Clark stated when he looked at her, feeling a bit betrayed. "I was..."

"You were counting on my help?" Kara asked when she looked at him. "That's fine, I'll happily help you but I can't fight your battles for you. And you might have not died against Doomsday, but there was a part of you that was sacrificed. And you need to get your head on straight if you hope to become the hero that wish to be, if that is your choice."

"I'll restore my powers on my own," Clark stated when he turned around. "And don't tell Lois or Lana that I was here."

"Fine that's on your head when they realize that you've been ducking them," Kara stated when she turned around. "What are you going to do when you can't use your powers, Clark?"

"I haven't lost them all yet," Clark responded when he walked off. "Jor-El is doing what he can to help me restore it."

"He told you that the choice is in your hand, didn't he?" Kara asked Clark and Clark offered a stiff nod. "Well I hope you make the choice that you need to do it, and it's the right choice."

Once again, Clark did not have any information about what the right choice was and Kara was gone, quicker than they could imagine. They had far bigger problems.

She did not even bother telling Clark that he should tell Lois and Lana about this, he needed to learn about the consequences of his actions. It was almost like she did not know her cousin anymore and he twisted into something unfamiliar and foreign to her. He was damaged, broken, and Kara and Harry couldn't technically restore his powers if he did not want them to.

Kara sped off, back to the Shining Light Foundation leaving Clark to wallow.

* * *

A young woman stood at the edge of Metropolis, waiting and watching, when she looked up. The last thing she remembered, she was subjected to experiments in the Department of Mysteries when she was grabbed by them. Her tormenters all died but so did she.

The only reason she was even experimented on was because of her parents. Her blue eyes flickered towards the light. She wore black hair tied back in a ponytail, and stepped forward. She thought that she died, in fact she dreamed being sent to the afterlife, but then she woke up in the middle of an alleyway in the middle of this city.

She could only piece together fragments of her life but she understood her name, as Alison Bella Riddle. That was the only piece of information pertaining her past in her head other than the fact she was held since she was a very young child at the Department of Mysteries before she perished in the attack from Sinclair and her followers. She couldn't remember who her parents for or any other details other than her tortured existence in the Department of Mysteries.

She needed to find a way to get those thoughts back together and figure out who she was.

**To Be Continued in "Memories." **


	3. Chapter 3: Memories

**Chapter Three "Memories".**

"After everything that happens, it's good to be back home," Harry stated when he sat down at the desk on his office and Kara moved around behind him, rubbing his shoulders with circular motions, rubbing the tense knots out of his neck, and carefully soothed him. "Not that where I went was the worst place."

"Yeah, there were far worse places where you could have ended up," Karen answered with a grin across her face when she stopped.

Chloe stood in the office adding when she watched Kara and Karen. "Do either of you know where you went?"

"We only know flickers," Kara admitted in a careful voice, before she curled herself onto Harry's lap.

The knock on the door brought Harry's attention to it. Karen was the one that answered the door, pulling it open. Zatanna rushed inside and threw her arms around Harry when she entered the office.

"I'm glad you're back Harry," Zatanna stated, when she greeted Harry with a passionate kiss, which he returned. He ran his fingers through her hair carefully, feeling her silky black hair.

"Let's all celebrate Harry's return," Karen stated when she cleared her throat and Zatanna broke the kiss and she smirked.

"I'm down with that," Kara responded with an ear to ear grin and Chloe smiled as well.

"No problem with that," Chloe responded when she edged Zatanna out of the way and took her turn on Harry's lap. Harry kissed her carefully, running his hands over her body and through her blonde hair.

Kara spun Zatanna around and smashed her lips onto hers with a kiss, straddling her lap, before the real fun began.

**Smut/Lemon Starts. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

* * *

"So are we going to do this?"

Zatanna's face crossed with a smile when she locked her eyes on Harry, Karen, and Kara. The three of them sat around one of the rooms of the Shining Light Foundation, ready to pluck the memories out of their minds. The missing six weeks, that was going to annoy them no matter what. Time and time again, they tried to push their memories back out of their minds but they found that they encountered nothing but a block. Their minds, as it was, was a total and utter blank from the moment they touched the altar to the moment where the found Harry on the island.

"I want my mind to be whole again," Kara stated when she firmly locked eyes with her spouses.

"As do I," Karen responded when she looked at Harry, who also nodded.

"Okay, focus, focus on the bond you share, there should be of backdoor that you can access," Zatanna answered when she watched them, carefully, her eyes widened, when she held her head back and bit her lip. She hoped that this would work and it would work soon, otherwise they were up a creek without a paddle as the saying went.

Harry's heart skipped a couple beats when he rocked back, and he felt the distress that his two wives felt. Six weeks was a long time to be without memories, anything that could have happened. What happened, where did they go? And did they really want to know?

There was a flash of light and Kara gripped Harry's hand so she could focus on that flash, with more flashes coming into the back of her head. The missing time continued to dial up a little bit and she leaned on Harry's shoulder, waiting. Karen gripped onto the memory.

"Do you see that, do you feel that?"

"Yes, yes, we do," Kara answered Karen, when the three of them locked hands and Zatanna walked in, feeling the strain. She decided to offer one statement that might change where they were going.

"Are you sure that you want to..."

"Continue, we need to access these memories, no matter what the cost," Kara stated when her pupils dilated and she went into total recall mode, when memories, images flashed through her mind.

There was a flash when they touched the altar. Kara and Karen landed on the ground. They peered up, looking at the red sun that flashed above them. Their hearts skipped a beat; the structures around them were amazing.

"All of this would not be possible without our savior, Harry Potter. The savior of Krypton. It is unfortunate what happened on this day, for he cannot stand before us, for the traitorous Kal-El killed him. The only solace is that Harry Potter took that vermin with him to the grave."

"What the hell happened?" Kara murmured when her heart skipped a couple of beats and then they saw, it the grave of Harry Potter.

_Here Lies Harry Potter_

_July 31st 1980-June 7th 2010._

"You never should have interfered Clark, you should have left it be, Harry knew what he was doing, and now a madman controls the world and you're dead as well. At what cost?"

The screams could be heard from that voice that they could not completely place due to the memories being so garbled but Kara, Karen, and Harry whipped out of the trance, the red sun still going into their eyes. Zatanna was the one that pulled them out of the mind link. Her eyes widened and her heart beat a little bit, carefully going against her chest.

"Your vitals were dropping, I had to get you out of there," Zatanna answered in an apologetic voice when she looked at them, when she watched them. "Did you see anything?"

"Enough to make me concerned," Kara responded in a grim voice, wondering what happened.

The words "Here Lies Harry Potter" flashed through their minds. It was not a good image that went through the back of their minds, but it was one that they were going to deal with.

"The world was taken over by someone, but that's not the worst thing," Karen stated in a breathy voice, when she slumped over. "I don't know, maybe things aren't what they seem."

"I sure hope so," Kara stated in a frustrated tone of voice when she sank her head on Harry's shoulder, waiting and watching him. If things were what they seemed….well things were going to be kind of awkward.

They had a few of the jigsaw puzzles missing, they had to. Things were not always as they seemed after all.

"Do we want to try this again?" Karen asked in a tentative voice but she felt more flushed and beaten down than she ever was before. This was not something that she wanted to remember ever again.

Zatanna bit her lip when she watched three of her lovers. "As much as I share your...belief that you need to find out the answers to what happened, if you weren't in there for much longer, it would destroy your bodies and your minds. Especially given the look on your face, there was something that you saw, that you shouldn't have seen. There are some things that I don't think we were meant to tamper with."

That much was for sure, and Harry got to his feet, summoning over glasses, before he filled them with water. He passed them to Kara and Karen, they needed it, and they really needed it. They drank the water and felt their bodies become flushed and they suddenly felt better. Which was strange because they could not get dehydrated because of their powers but yet they felt like they might as well have.

"So what now?" Zatanna asked when Chloe poked her head in, looking around.

"Is everything okay?" Chloe asked when she looked at the group and sighed. There was something that she felt, there was a chill that went through her body, that flooded her very being. The blonde blinked a little bit, before she swallowed and spoke. "I felt it, there was a burst of...I don't know what."

"Those were my memories and I apologize for them," Kara stated when she walked over, and wrapped her arms around Chloe, seeing how worried she was. "Something really bad happened."

Chloe both dreaded the answer and wanted to hear it at the same time. The blonde focused her attention on them and waited for them to respond. "What is it?"

Harry decided to enlighten her in on the matter. "Well, the world...it's been taken over, there's a red sun, and I'm dead and so is Clark."

"I think we got sent to the future," Kara breathed heavily when it clicked in her mind but Karen kept her eyes on Harry and Kara before she responded.

"Do you think that we got sent to a future or the future?" Karen asked them both and both shook their heads, being careful about everything that happened. The blondes had their eyes on Harry, offering him an explanation.

"I don't know, but hopefully more memories will come back to us naturally," Harry stated, there had to be some reason why everything was blocked. He wondered if there was some kind of memory charm involved to prevent Kara and Karen from remembering exactly what happened.

"I can't believe that Kal-El would betray you like that," Kara stated, her eyes flashing with horror at the thought.

"Neither can I, which means I think with what happened, there's more than what it seems," Harry stated but Kara was not so sure.

The way Clark was acting the time she met him at the Kent Farm, death changed him and not for the better. She wanted to trust her own flesh and blood but he seemed so cold and so indifferent. It was almost like he shut himself off of all emotions in some desperate gambit to hang onto his powers. That shook Kara to her very core and turned around, when Harry pulled her into his lap.

He wrapped his arms around the waist of his Alpha. "It will be okay."

The real problem was that there was a group of people who came back to life. The Higher ups were reluctant to part with any information, although the search for a new Death continued. All Harry had to worry about was to continue his duties. And he wondered if the responsibility fell back to him to get these people back into the swing of things.

His work was never done but that's what made it interesting.

* * *

The dark haired girl with blue eyes known as Alison Riddle walked towards the Shining Light Foundation, her feet nervously dragging from behind her. Given what happened to her, one could not blame her for the fact that was a little bit nervous. In fact, one could even say that she was scared out of her mind. The dark haired girl saw flashes in her mind about what happened. The Department of Mysteries, one would consider them to be a place where there would be nothing strange and out of the ordinary happen.

That was wrong, that was dead wrong and Alison dragged her feet from behind her, when she eyed the Shining Light Foundation nervously. She had a feeling that the life she knew was long since over but she had these special powers. She could move things with her mind and could convince people to do things without touching them. It was extraordinary what she could do. And it scared her.

There were also flickers of a man in dark robes, a man with a snake face, who killed countless. She felt the fear that the very same blood that gave birth to him ran through her veins. The same diseased bloodline spawned her and that twisted her stomach to the very core at the thought of being connected to anything like that.

Alison could not, no she must not, no she must go forward and face her demons, plentiful as they might be and walked forward. Her eyes rolled back into her head a little bit when she stopped everything and her heart thumped. She was about ready to live the rest of her life, whatever that might be and the rest of her life started at the Shining Light Foundation.

Memories that faded, flickering in and out, it damned her and scared her.

There was a trio of blondes, a dark haired man, and a young girl who stood in the background, her face obscured by a hood. She saw one of the blondes standing back talking to a dark haired girl.

"I'm glad you did what you could to find us," Kara whispered to Rachel who shrugged it off.

"There was nothing to it," Rachel responded, she was pleased that Harry was fine, although she avoided bringing up the kiss that happened, because quite frankly they had enough to worry about. Plus she fingered it was spur of the moment, tensions ran high, along with emotions. So she made a decision not to bring it up unless they did.

Although she would be lying if she did not think about what could happen off of it.

The dark haired girl showed up and Chloe spun around to face her, before she responded in a polite and businesslike tone, with a bright smile on her face.

"Yes, Shining Light Foundation, how may we help you?" Chloe asked with what she hoped was an inviting expression to this young girl who looked nervous. She spoke in a reassuring voice. "Hey, it's okay, we're here to help."

"I know...I just, you think...there's something really weird that's going on with me, you're not going to believe this one," Alison stated when she kept her eyes on them.

Harry watched the girl, she did seem nervous so he handed her a candy bar. "Chocolate, it helps ease the nerves."

_'And the mild calming drought you spiked it with, well it doesn't hurt either,' _Chloe thought with a grin, but Kara, Karen, and Harry remained stoic and stared forward.

"Thanks," Alison when she took the chocolate bar and started to eat it, feeling a little bit better, or at least she was more at ease with how she felt. "I...I woke up a few weeks ago, in the middle of this city."

"Could you have sworn that you were dead?" Harry asked, he hoped that he could track down all of the resurrected, because it was his responsibility to take care of them or at least make sure they did not do anything. People coming back from the dead was going to be a bit of a headache and he wondered why the Powers That Be took such a drastic step, given that they had no sense time had passed and everyone around them moved on.

"Kind of, but it's complicated," Alison admitted in an anxious voice and Chloe smiled at her.

"Most things are."

Karen chimed in with her answer. "Most things in life wouldn't be...but that's what the Shining Light Foundation is here for you, it's to help you find those answers you want to find. "

Alison bit her lip and shifted a little bit, that was what she thought that they were here for.

"I hope, I mean I hope I'm not a burden," Alison responded when she looked in the eyes of this owner of the Shining Light Foundation, this Harry Potter. She could not help but think that their pasts were interconnected in some way, perhaps their families knew each other.

"No, it's not a problem," Harry responded when he kept an eye on her before he asked her the obvious question. "What is your name?"

She paused, before she responded. "Alison...just Alison."

For some reason, she felt that saying her full name was not going to be a good idea, at least at the moment. Maybe later, she would say it, but now, she reigned herself into saying that.

Chloe's eyes widened when she saw another figure step through the doors of the Shining Light Foundation. She could hardly believe seeing this face again but given all of the weirdness, she supposed that it was going to be inevitable.

"What's the matter Chloe?" Kara asked in a concerned voice, when she saw her sister wife's face when she watched the smaller blonde. "It looks like you've seen a ghost."

"That's because...that's because I have," Chloe stated when she looked at the blonde standing across from her.

"Karen, please show Alison up to her room," Harry stated and Karen nodded, before she led Alison off. They had several more rooms added, with the intention that they would have more guests show up in due time. That was something that he fully expected to happen at any moment.

Chloe kept a close look at the newest arrival turned up.

"I suspect you're surprised to see me...well not as surprised as I am to be among the living."

The last thing Alicia Baker remembered was the life being choked out her, when she passed out and apparently, she died. She couldn't remember anything beyond that point, until she appeared in Metropolis a few days earlier. And she was surprised to see that almost five years had passed.

"Alicia, hello," Chloe offered in a calm voice.

"Chloe, nice to see you," Alicia offered in equally calm voice, not backing down.

_'Tension much?' _Harry thought to Kara, who saw the two stare each other down.

"My name is Alicia Baker. Chloe and I went to school together, in fact we had a mutual friend," Alicia responded when she looked at Harry and Kara, a smile crossing her face. She was confused but she hoped that she could piece together some answers. "I don't know if you heard of him, his name is Clark Kent."

"Yes, he's my cousin,' Kara responded and that statement caused Alicia to raise an eyebrow in surprise.

"Who knew?" Alicia asked when she turned her head around, smiling.

"It's amazing, isn't it, small world?" Kara asked, when she eyed this woman, carefully keeping an eye on her.

The truth was Alicia tried to stop by the Kent Farm to see if Clark or his parents were still hanging around there. She stopped and saw that Lana Lang was there. Given their past, Lana was the last person that she wanted to talk to. She turned around and did some searching, before she found out about the Shining Light Foundation. They helped a certain type of people, her type.

How she wished such a place was around like this when she was younger. That would have prevented her from making decisions that she would have regretted.

Yet, one could not change what happened, only changed what was going to be to come.

Alicia on the other hand wanted to know one simple question and that was how did she get here? She was certain that she was dead and she had a feeling that they had an idea or could help her. She had no friends, no family, no anything, and this was her only lifeline.

_'Harry, she's...a potential high risk,' _Chloe thought to Harry. _'Not that I'm going to stop you from helping anyone but...'_

_'She's confused, therefore leaving her to her own devices would make her that much more dangerous,' _Kara thought. _"So how does she know Clark? She said that they were mutual friends?'_

_'More than that, Clark married her,' _Chloe thought to them. _'In Vegas.'_

Kara frowned. _'A spontaneous Vegas Marriage, I don't think Clark had it in him.'_

"Alicia, we'll be happy to help you find your feet and find your answers," Harry stated, because he could tell how the long silence would be unsettling.

_'Red Kryptonite was involved,' _Chloe thought to them, frowning at the memory.

_'I see,' _Kara thought, but she did wonder. The RedK did not force anyone into anything that they did not want to do but rather lower the inhibitions that they had placed in place.

There was going to be a lot of work to do. Alicia and Allison were not going to be the first people that would come forward.

* * *

"So I'm worried about Clark."

Lois voiced that question when she cornered Harry when he made his rounds at the Daily Planet. Harry sighed, he figured that this confrontation was coming, although he did not know how soon it was coming. He spun around and stared Lois down, his eyes not leaving her for a moment.

"Lois, Clark's...well you've figured out what's happening," Harry stated to the brunette woman who nodded. The two stared each other down, both had their own tension after the last several weeks. "The entire Doomsday debacle, it knocked something loose."

Lois frowned. "Well let me get a crowbar and knock it right back."

Harry waved his hands. "As much as I'd like to see it, it's not that simple, Clark's...his father claims that he might lose his powers, as you know."

"I'm not sure if that isn't another Jor-El trick to mess with his mind," Lois stated when she frowned, she knew what Jor-El was up to. Even with Clark's birth mother there, Lois still felt uneasy and wasn't sure she liked Clark spending time at that Fortress in his condition. Yet the Fortress blocked her out when she tried to retrieve him. "And Lana's...she's still tracking our latest Mysterious Kryptonian."

As if on cue, Lois's cell phone buzzed and she picked it up.

"Lois, you're not going to believe this," Lana responded breathlessly.

"Did you find our mystery girl?" Lois asked over the telephone but Lana sounded anxious.

"No but I was flying over the desert when I saw something, etched into the sand and well...seeing is believing, isn't it?"

Lana transmitted them a picture to Lois's cell phone and she took a step back, mouth a gap when she looked at it with widened eyes. It burned into the sand, the same "S" symbol that was the mark of the House of El.

"That's not all," Lana continued, sounding out of breath. "There are dozens of these Kryptonian Symbols, scattered, and I've just barely started looking."

"Dozens?" Lois asked, wondering if that was a good thing or a not so good thing. "Well that explains why Miss Attitude Problem showed up and knocked the snot out of us."

"Yeah, maybe," Lana stated, but something told her that there was something far beyond that.

_'So what's the problem?' _Kara thought and Harry projected the symbols into her mind. _'Yeah that's a pretty big problem, pretty big in fact.'_

_'But it's not the only issue,' _Harry offered and Kara shook her head, carefully putting her hands on her hips.

_'I've recognized some of these symbols,' _Kara projected back to Harry.

"You know, it's annoying when you get real quiet like that and do the mental link thing," Lois stated when she snapped her fingers in front of Harry's face. He turned to her with a look that would convince most to back off.

"Kara recognizes one of the symbols, at least," Harry answered and sure enough, Kara zoomed over to the Daily Planet, arriving, nearly causing papers to fly because of the wind she caused at her sudden arrival.

"Oh, hey," Lois responded but Kara pointed at the symbol.

"That symbol, that's the symbol for the house of In-Ze," Kara responded, when she pointed to the crooked "I" with a slash through it. "That's from my mother's side of family, you know the House of El, and there's..."

Z, there was a flaming Z in the field.

Kara grabbed Harry and sped off, before the two of them popped over towards the Artic.

_"Screw Clark needing space, he needs to be warned about this,' _Kara thought to him.

_'It's the symbol for...Zod?' _Harry thought to her and Kara nodded.

_'If Zod lives on Earth, that could prove to be a problem,' _Harry responded back to her but they found themselves hitting a wall.

"Let us in Jor-El, or I swear we'll tear the entire Fortress down!" Harry yelled and something opened up, allowing them to enter. The Vortex sucked them into the Fortress, where Clark was sitting, wide eyes, symbols surrounding his eyes.

"Jor-El is trying to undertake Kal-El's training but it is much slower than he thought it was," Lara responded calmly and Clark stood around, pupils dilated. Her voice indicated that she was going to give Jor-El enough rope to hang himself, before she did damage control. "It will be several days before he can be safely moved out."

Kara was afraid of that. "Could you offer him a message? Lana's come across several symbols, and one of them is the House of El Symbol. They're burned into the ground."

"Strangeness has happened since you have left, I'd imagine," Lara responded carefully. She had a feeling that the orb was going to end up backfiring on them.

"One could say that, strangeness has happened," Kara stated, when she thought about it. A frown spread her face, she wondered if a quarter of the planet of Krypton was resurrected due to Death's screw up, which meant they were resurrected on a planet underneath a yellow sun.

If that was the case, all of those Kryptonians showing up, it would be a catastrophe.

"Also tell Jor-El and Kal-El that the symbol for Zod has been burned into a field, outside of Smallville," Kara added and Lara's tone grew grave before she responded.

"I will relay this message," Lara responded when she carefully considered her words. She had no idea the gravity of the situation that she had to deal with, although she understood that something bad as going to happen. "The orb."

"The orb?" Kara asked, with a questioning eyebrow.

"Yes, the orb, Jor-El created it, but he never wanted it opened, someone opened the orb, the DNA within contains several of the members of the Kandorian military," Lara responded crisply.

Alarm flooded over Kara's face. "Do you think...do you think that would cause some damage to Earth…if they had powers…all of them?"

"Jor-El did something to stop their powers, I'm afraid I don't know what," Lara answered when she thought about it. "Although what was done, could be undone. And Kryptonian powers can be gifted, as you know."

"Was my mother part of this experiment?" Kara whispered to Lara.

"I'm not sure," Lara answered, not wanting to get her niece's hopes up. "Hopefully Kal-El will be able to return. Raya has been helping us when she can."

"Lois and Lana both want to see him," Kara stated, who was agitated about her cousin and the way he was acting.

Lara's answered this statement in an apologetic tone. "That is Kal-El's place."

"I understand but he doesn't bother to explain himself," Kara responded her eyes narrowed towards the catatonic form of her cousin when he underwent his training or perhaps a process to restore his powers. It was hard to tell what the hell he was doing now.

Kara and Harry had plenty of work to go and not a lot of time to do it.

* * *

"So, on top of everything else, we have some kind of clone crisis with a Kandorian orb," Chloe summarized when Harry, Kara, and Karen brought her back up to speed. "Well think about it, when's the last time we saw the orb?"

Harry frowned when he thought about it. "The orb was in the Artic, the last time we saw it, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, Lex had it," Chloe recalled with a crisp tone of voice. She thought about everything that happened and considered the entire situation. "So someone picked it up."

"Are you thinking who I'm thinking?" Kara asked and Chloe nodded.

"We got sidetracked with everything that was going on but she did come across Lex, so she might have come across the orb," Chloe answered and Karen spun around, before she looked around.

"Our mysterious missing owner of Luthorcorp,"Karen stated in a crisp voice, she still had a distaste in her mouth for everything and anything Luthor. "Where do you think she ran off to?"

"I don't think she's ran off, I've sent her four e-mails and three phone calls but she's not answering," Harry answered, before he got to his feet. "I'll check out Luthorcorp, wish me luck."

"Yeah good luck," Chloe answered when Harry kissed all three of his wives goodbye, before he disappeared with a flash and made his way to the Luthor Manor.

He walked down the hallway, and heard footsteps. He closed his eyes and became invisible against the wall. He saw two tall figures walk around, with Tess following them. She

"I don't care if you think they're gone without a trace, I want them tracked down, especially her," Tess answered when she walked behind them. "I don't appreciate getting tied up and held captive in my own home for two months."

The guards nodded when they followed Tess down the hallway, but the guards dropped down onto the ground.

She sighed, when she looked back around. "Now..."

Harry spun her around and she stood up rigid before she watched Harry. "Oh, thank God it's you."

"Don't thank him yet, you have a problem," Harry answered when he looked at Tess.

"Yeah, I have a problem, where have you been lately?" Tess responded when she looked at Harry. "No one's seen you in six weeks and you pop back up now."

Harry offered her a smile. "Oh here and there, you seem hot and bothered and not in the good way."

"Well anyone would be a bit upset, if they...if they had been held captive in their own home," Tess responded when she took a moment. "I thought it was one of the Kandorians back to attack me for trying to track them down. Or worse your mother."

"My mother?" Harry asked, he was afraid of that.

"She packs a hell of a blasting spell," Tess responded when she eyed Harry.

"I'd imagine," Harry responded when they walked down the hallway, but girl dressed in a black business suit with three silver buttons aligned in an upside triangle along short red hair and violet eyes showed up.

"Miss Mercer I have..."

"Miss Go, I've told you not to interrupt me when I've been conducting business," Tess answered when she inclined her head towards Harry. "This is Harry Potter, my business partner. Harry, this is Indy Go, she's...a new member of my tech division."

Harry indicated that to mean that Tess hired her for a certain purpose, although what that purpose was. She eyed Harry with interest, her violet eyes watched the wizard appraisingly.

"Please to meet you, Harry," Indy answered when she watched Harry with careful interest.

"So, I'm sure you wanted to know where I've been," Harry responded and Tess responded. "It's one of those long stories."

"I'm sure," Tess remarked when she watched Harry carefully. "But maybe we could talk this over later, there's been a business proposal that I want to discuss with you. And since this is your company too, we should talk this one over."

"Who is it from?" Harry asked with his eyebrow raised.

"The RAO corporation," Tess responded to him and now Harry's interest piqued.

_'He does work fast,' _Harry thought to his bond mates.

"And the CEO, he wants to meet with you," Tess added, she smelled a rat, but she wondered if Harry smelled the same one.

"Well, it happens that I want to meet with him," Harry responded carefully.

The chess game was on and Harry would figure out what the game of the Kandorians, or more particular, Zod was. Although he suspected that not all of them were bad, but Zod was a problem area. What he could become alarmed Harry a little bit but he adopted a wait and see approach and attitude.

All of the pieces of the game were slowly moving into place.

* * *

"Mom, Dad!"

Claire attacked Harry and Kara excitedly when she hugged them tightly, but Harry smiled.

"Keep it up and you'll be stronger than us," Harry answered when he bent down and looked at his daughter with a smile. The red head girl looked at Harry. He turned to Megan, who smiled at him. "Thank you for keeping an eye on Claire when we were gone."

Megan waved her hands, smiling. "There was no problem at all ,she's a joy as always."

"If there is anything that we can do for you, don't hesitate to ask," Kara remarked and there was a moment where Megan offered a bright smile, some extremely tantalizing possibilities moving through her head. There was a few things that she could think that they could do but it was nothing that she could talk about in the company of a child.

"I won't and the three of you should head off," Megan responded when she stood in the Talon Apartment. Since Lois moved in with Clark at the Kent Farm, she inherited it from them, the latest person to live there. "Talk to you later Claire."

"Okay, see you later, Megan," Claire answered when she started to jabber on about her past several weeks, with Harry and Kara walked off with her.

* * *

Chloe turned towards Harry, a smile crossing her face when she watched him, when he returned home. Yet she had some news to relay to Harry and she wondered how she would get a chance to relay that news to Harry.

"So I've done a little scan to find the Kryptonian symbols and also any mysterious arrivals within the last six weeks," Chloe responded before she turned to Harry. "I came across an image of a certain someone that you might want to see."

Harry waved towards her and she punched up the photos of the Shining Light Foundation computer. His eyes widened when he took a careful look at the photos and could not believe what he saw.

_'Sinclair,' _Harry thought when he saw the figure standing in the darkness, careful not to be seen.

"We could have a bit of a problem," Chloe remarked when she held Harry's hand.

Harry nodded, that was for sure. They had many problems and they kept piling up like dirty dishes.

**To Be Continued in "Postcard from Kandor."**


	4. Chapter 4: Postcard From Kandor

**Chapter Four: Post Card from Kandor. **

Needless to say, the reappearance of her was something that threw Harry completely and utterly off guard, to the point where all focus was lost. The young wizard walked forward, carefully turning his head when he made his way down the streets, making careful strides. Chloe followed him, trying to keep up with his pace but it was rather hard for her to do so. She finally made her way next to him and looked into her eyes.

"Harry, slow down," Chloe stated when she grabbed his arm, before she spun her husband around. "I want to find her as much as I do but..."

"I don't understand the higher ups," Harry remarked when he threw his hands up into the air in frustration. "After all she did, after Death…."

Harry did not really know what to say about his aunt, he supposed, for lack of a better term. Although he did not think of her as that, he tried not to with all of the blood that was put on her hands. The black haired Herald of Death turned his head, watching the sky carefully, and taking a moment to really allow himself time to figure out everything. His heart beat steadily into his chest when he tapped his foot onto the ground.

"Hey, I want to find her," Chloe stated gently when she looked at Harry in the eyes. "You know she was the one that kidnapped me and had me subjected to some mad man's experiment."

"I'm aware of that," Harry responded when he placed an arm around Chloe's waist and he closed his eyes. "I went to all of the trouble to put her down. And I know….I don't know what is happening with the upper management. Until a new Death is created, I'm in the dark. Really, without Death, then my purpose is kind of in a state flux."

Chloe bit down her lip, she sensed his frustration, and grabbed his hand tightly.

"After what she did, I know what you want," Chloe responded when she wrapped her arms tightly around Harry. "But….I can't help but wonder one thing."

There was a pause where Chloe allowed Harry to consider what she said before she decided to continue her statement, carefully choosing her next words.

"I can't help but think there is a reason why she was brought back here," Chloe stated when she thought about it. "You said it yourself, Death works in mysterious and sometimes baffling ways. I wonder….I wonder how much of a pawn she was into the grander scheme."

Harry considered it carefully when he spun around and looked over his shoulder.

"What is it?" Chloe asked him and he shook his head. The blonde woman tensed up when Harry spun around and carefully looked down the alleyway, a set of eyes carefully staring down the alleyway.

There was nothing but Harry could have sworn that there was something. The wizard turned around and Chloe watched him, carefully biting down on her lip before she responded one a statement.

"You are extremely tense," Chloe offered him and there was a slight smile appearing on Harry's face, when she wrapped her arms around him.

"I know I am," Harry answered when he paused before he added. "I don't think that I've been close to how tense I've been before."

Tension was something that Harry felt many times in the past although if he was honest with himself, it helped him focus. It threw him into the pressure cooker and allowed him to find a way to fight out. He worked to a level beyond anything else and he carefully waited for his next move. The fact that a bunch of people were brought back to life and the potential consequences weighed heavily in the mind of Harry Potter.

The Sinclair thing in particular, that really upset him, given the little bit he got from her mind and how her mind was warped in that way. There was a part of Harry that wanted to reach out and help her, but he could not forgive the fact that she killed Hermione, killed others, and really hurt Kara and Chloe. That was not something that he forgave easily, circumstances be damned and family be dead.

Hermione was someone else that he thought about; there was someone who did not deserve to die. Even if she died for her idealism, and her belief that everyone would listen to reason. Harry wondered how many people were alive that weren't before. He could have a real mess on his hands.

Dare he hope?

There was a lot of hope that Harry had but he refused to really hang onto it for that often.

"Hey, Harry, are you still there?" Chloe asked when she snapped her fingers and Harry smiled.

"Yeah, Chlo, I'm still here," Harry answered in a distracted voice when he looked at her. "Family, something that….something that I've found frustrating more often than not."

"You're in a funny mood," Chloe remarked looking at Harry. "This is about the Sinclair thing."

"It's exactly about the Sinclair thing," Harry retorted carefully, spinning around and watching the alleyway. So far nothing from Sinclair other than the few sightings.

"She was your mother's sister and we all know how Lily turned out," Chloe stated, choosing her words carefully.

"Yeah," Harry stated, that was the fact that ate away at him about his mother, she was nothing like he ever thought she would be and that fact galled him.

He wanted to believe it was because of a botched charm on the journal that twisted her, he really did.

"So do you have any normal and sane members of your family?" Chloe asked him and that was when Harry shrugged towards her.

"What is normal?" Harry asked and Chloe smiled. "I doubt either of us could be considered normal."

"You've got a good point that," Chloe stated with a shrug before the couple continued their search.

Harry once again spun around quickly, for the second time, he sensed that there was something or someone following him. Even through Metropolis was not crowded as usual, there was a sense of a presence behind him. He rushed down the alleyway, and Chloe followed behind him, raising a careful eyebrow, before she turned her head from him and nervously looked behind herself. Then her eyes snapped back towards Harry.

"I heard it too that time," Chloe responded when she held onto Harry. The two stood back to back, so whoever was there, did not sneak up on either of them.

Yet, there was no one there; it was getting to be rather frustrating.

A pair of green eyes watched Harry, before she disappeared into nothingness, the time would come for them to meet up.

"So, you're really going to reach out to the Kandorians?" Chloe asked him in a careful voice.

"I upped the advertisements for the Shining Light Foundation, with a subtle message that they can come to me, I hope that they listen," Harry responded, he partially wanted to help them but also wanted to keep an eye on them. If they got their powers back, hundreds of people with Kara's powers could be a catastrophe, especially if some of them weren't as altruistic as she was. "Their leader might be a problem and the fact my mother might be assisting them. And I have a feeling it's not for any good means."

Chloe could hardly argue with that point.

**X-X-X**

Kara made regular trips back to the Kent Farm, mostly to check everything out and make sure no one was lurking around. Clark's sudden disappearance was not going to go unnoticed for long and she hoped that she would not have to play damage control. Whether or not Jor-El would parole her cousin any time soon, that was something that galled at Kara. She could sense Lara's frustrations growing by each day.

And what was even more galling was the fact that Clark finally gave in and decided to allow Jor-El to guide him. Kara felt slightly betrayed, because of everything that she did to help him, he ended up turning back to his father. A stupid computer, a flawed computer, that she was half tempted to smash. He never respected her properly, despite all of what she did for him.

She shook her head, realizing how selfish that might sound, but she felt that perhaps it was time to let Clark sink or swim on his own. She and Harry could not keep bailing him out every time he got a paper cut. They gave him his protectors and now Clark decided to turn his back on them as well. Kara wanted to punch her cousin or shake some sense into him but he was not her problem. He had grown up, or at least gotten older. She was not sure which.

There was someone in the Kent Farm, at least the light was on. At first, Kara was not that surprised, Lana or Lois might have swung by with similar intentions in mind. So she was not too concerned about the visitor, at least not the first.

That was until she focused her enhanced vision and realized that it was not Lana or Lois who swung by for a visit. Kara bit down on her tongue carefully and edged closer to the door. She learned a lot about not rushing into these situations, although there was something else that she understood. With the orb opened, there were other visitors on this planet and some of them might not be that friendly.

Kara edge closer when she saw the young woman, her hood was pulled up so the blonde could not see the other woman's face. That put Kara completely on edge, and suddenly the woman noticed her, so said woman flew off.

That automatically threw Kara into suspicious mode. She leapt up and shot into the air, chasing after this mysterious woman, flying across the air over Kansas.

Whoever this woman was, she was fast, but Kara was a little bit faster. She picked up velocity and flight at an alarming rate, propelling herself through the sky, faster than a speeding bullet. She was not about to lose any momentum to this woman, whoever she was.

The funny thing was that this woman had her powers, and her aunt told her that the Kandorians were stripped of their powers, when Jor-El corrupted the orb. This made Kara wonder what happened and there was one of two feasible explanations.

The first explanation was that the Kandorians found a way to get their powers back although given the fact that Lily worked with them, Kara feared this would happen, as did Harry, Karen, and Chloe. That's why they were taking steps to protect the world against Zod, by any means necessary, even as they were trying to reach out to the other members of his army.

The second explanation that this mysterious woman was not of the orb, which meant she was another survivor. Kara reached forward, trying to grab her ankle, but she was kicked away.

There were many things that Kara Potter could not stand and one of them was being kicked in the head by some mysterious Kryptonian. She gritted her teeth and tried to stun her in mid-air but the woman dodged the attack. They must have gone halfway across the country by now, although all people would see were two blurs flying forward.

The two blurs made their way across the Atlantic Ocean.

"Stop!" Kara yelled but her pleas fell on deaf ears.

Given the Kandorians and her own invulnerability to the stuff thanks to her powers, Kara took it upon herself to carry some kind of insurance against them. It might seem like a cheap tactic but she was really interested in her survival. She pulled out the lead lined box and opened it carefully, allowing the green glow to emit.

The flying woman stopped, losing control of her flight abilities. The size of Kryptonite was not nearly enough to kill anyone, barely bigger than Kara's fist, but at the same time, it would bring anyone down to their knees. Or cause them to descend with their flight, that would work as well and Kara watched this woman continue to drop like a stone.

Kara dove down, catching the woman in her arms, before she darted her halfway across the country, back to Smallville. Her hair blew in the breeze, it blowing behind her. The blonde picked up the pace, she wanted answers and she kept the Kryptonite steady in her hand, before she dropped down to the ground, holding the woman.

"Let me go!" the woman yelled when she kicked and screamed. "I've got to….I've got to make sure Zod doesn't find this place and try and subvert Kal-El over to his cause!"

"What are you talking about?" Kara demanded, now she was suspicious that this woman knew of Kal-El and removed the hood. "I demand to know….Thara?"

Thara Ak-Var stopped before she watched the blond ,recognizing her at once, eyes widened in disbelief. "Kara?"

The two had a nearly identical reaction.

"I thought you died on Krypton!"

Kara watched her friend carefully, this was a shock, actually the fact it was a shock was putting it kind of mildly. She was completely and utterly surprised beyond all believe. The blonde kept her expression fixed on Thara, a few moments passed by as she waited before her face twisted into a grin, before she put an arm around Thara's waist.

"How did you…."

"Does it really matter?" Thara asked when she looked at her. "I thought you'd die but you escaped off of the planet."

"Zor-El sent me here," Kara responded but she did not elaborate beyond anything more other than that.

Thara noticed the ring on Kara's finger and she took a moment to look at her. "It appears as if we have a lot of catching up to do….although what is it with that rock?"

"Sorry, insurance," Kara stated in a sheepish voice. "I know of the orb and…."

"If you know of the orb, I understand," Thara stated in a voice that was tense but at the same time understanding. "So let's get caught up."

"Yeah, let's," Kara agreed before the two girls made their way back into the Kent Farm, for Kara to get Thara caught up to speed with everything that happened.

**X-X-X**

Thara smiled regretfully when they sat in the kitchen of the Kent Farm. She met Kal-El briefly and thought that whatever happened with his Earth upbringing, it suited him well. Although it did give him a certain amount of weaknesses that Zod could exploit. That was why she kept a vigilante eye on this place, hoping, but Kal-El must have moved on.

"Jor-El did have the greatest hopes for Kal-El," Thara responded when she turned around and looked outside the window. "It must be hard for him to shoulder that burden."

"You have no idea," Kara responded when she closed her eyes but popped them back open. "Thankfully he has help, providing that he accepts it."

Kara thought about Clark's recent turn of events, no one ever remains the same after nearly dying and Clark was no exception to this very unfortunate rule. The blonde Kryptonian wished that she could do something, anything to alievate the frustration that she felt. However, it was all for nothing when she thought about it. She hoped that her cousin would come to his senses.

Thara asked the question that burned on the tip of her tongue. "So how is the relationship between you and Kal-El?"

Kara answered that one as honestly as she could. "Extremely difficult at times."

She was telling the truth, in a fashion. Her and Clark had their philosophical clashes, and he tended to be too much of an overgrown boy scout at times. Getting him ready for Doomsday was a challenge, although the fact he did not completely die meant that something set in. Although, Kara wondered if he feared becoming the monster that he had to take down several times before. It was amazing how many times one became what they fought.

"It isn't anything like Jor-El and Zor-El is it?" Thara asked, biting her lip down nervously at the thought of her cousin going through anything like that.

"No, nothing that extreme," Kara responded when she watched her friend. "And you were right."

The twenty one year old Blonde Kryptonian sighed when she thought about it, thought about how Thara tried to warn her about what her father truly was. Yet Kara did not want to hear it, or perhaps she did not want to admit it. Regardless of the fact, they had a bit of a blow up that lead to falling out a few months before the end.

Thara and her family left the planet to one of the satellite planets and then everything went to hell in a handbasket, for lack of a better term. It was nice to talk now.

"And I'm sorry," Kara responded when she looked at her.

Thara shrugged off her apologies. "We always want to think the best of our parents. I think it speaks well of you that you turned out more like your mother, than your father."

"Yeah, sometimes our parents aren't exactly what we assume them to be," Kara responded as she shifted her position carefully and sighed. "Harry could tell you stories."

"Oh Harry, that's your husband's name?" Thara asked when she looked at her with a smile. "And how is he treating you?"

"He treats all of us pretty well," Kara responded when she watched Thara with a smile and Thara's ears perked up. "You know of the collectives on Krypton."

"Yes, the nobles had them and still had them," Thara responded when she eyed Kara. "You are the Alpha, aren't you?"

"Of course I am," Kara answered with a bright and bold smile. "Harry told me that I was the first girl he ever truly loved, the first person that he could really and truly connect with and I believe him. We have a bond."

"You were destined to meet each other," Thara responded in a wistful voice. "Hundreds of different universes, hundreds of different versions of you two and you were destined to get together ninety nine times out of one hundred. You two were meant for each other. I can see it on your eyes, Kara."

Kara smiled, Thara could see it in her eyes, but it was Kara who felt it in her heart. Every time she was with Harry, it was like magic.

"So how many Kandorians are in the orb?" Kara asked, switching tracks.

"I know what you're thinking and many of them are fanatically loyal to Zod," Thara responded carefully choosing her words. Kara had that "saving people thing" where she wanted to help everyone to the best of her abilities. "My parents didn't partake in the experiment even if Jor-El offered."

"So you're not from the orb?" Kara asked but Thara shook her head.

"No, Kara, I'm not, I was on Argo, in stasis, but I had it set if the orb ever was opened, it would wake me up, and I could take the portal to Earth at any time to warn Kal-El about what was to come," Thara responded when she crossed her arms. "The only ones we can trust explicitly from the orb are Alura, Lara, and Jor-El."

Kara sat up straight. "My mother and my aunt are in the orb?"

Thara offered a smile. "Lara will be a surprise to even Jor-El. Alura snuck her into the orb as another failsafe. Jor-El and Lara were barely married for a year at this point and by all indications their marriage was not as stable as it was later on. Alura…she was a medical science officer, she helped withdraw the blood and demanded inclusion into the orb."

Thara did not say that she was pretty sure that both Alura and Lara were victims of marriage contracts to their respective spouses and neither woman was happy about the situation. But that was how Krypton nobility was and it was good Kara found a place here, married to someone that she loved and not someone that she was forced into marrying.

Given that Jor-El was pretty dense regarding sexual matters, despite being a genius in others, Thara hoped for the sake of Kal-El and any of his partners, that he was a bit more perceptive.

This was a lot for Kara to take in, the fact her mother could be out there.

"And Jor-El and Alura might be the only people who know how to give the Kandorians their powers back, which we both know is a bad idea," Thara commented and Kara nodded her head carefully.

She decided that she could trust her friend, looking her in the eye.

"Harry can," Kara whispered when she watched Thara.

"Pardon?" Thara asked, she was thrown off by this statement and Kara decided to elaborate a little more.

"Harry can give them back their powers," Kara added when she watched them. "He gave three people their powers already, Lois, Lana, and Chloe they…."

Thara broke in. "It's imperative that Zod doesn't find out that is within Harry's abilities to do this."

"Harry can handle Zod," Kara responded with the supreme confidence in her husband's abilities.

"I hope you're right Kara," Thara responded when she turned around. She had not met Harry yet, she had no idea of the full scope of his abilities and no idea what he could truly do. "But while I would never dream to tell you to take the powers from those people, I do think that you should be given a warning to be careful with exhibiting them. Zod could have agents everywhere, watching for any sign."

"It will be done," Kara responded when she turned around before her voice grew suddenly less serious and a little bit more hopeful. "So what about my mother?"

"Your mother was a brilliant woman, she could really give Jor-El a run for his money and then some," Thara answered when she shifted herself a little bit in her chair. "She will be discreet, she will avoid all forms of detection. I'm not going to lie to you Kara, if she doesn't want to be found, she won't be found. Not by Zod, not by you, not by anyone."

Kara's lips curled into a smile. "Thara, you give me way too little credit."

**X-X-X**

"She doesn't want to be found,' Chloe stated when it was getting late and they returned to the Shining Light Foundation. "Maybe the fact she isn't going after us, that could be considered a good thing."

"Better that we know where she is then we don't know where she is," Harry responded.

"Don't we have more pressing matters to attend to," Chloe answered Harry but the young wizard turned around.

"Yeah, where do three hundred Kandorians hide in Metropolis, that is the million dollar question?" Harry admitted when he carefully took a moment to think about it. He was hoping to draw them out to him, so he could get a better feel for them.

"We'll find out that answer all too soon," Chloe answered before she turned around. "And we've got the problem; our little super hero club is defunct."

"Queen's flaked out," Harry corrected when he turned around and carefully watched everything around him."Given what's happened with him before, that's not a big surprise, but one that could pose a problem."

"You've never been on board with the entire super hero co-opt thing to begin with," Chloe stated and Harry nodded.

"It's a challenge to juggle although the group that Oliver put together, the concept had potential but the execution…it lacked," Harry answered before he spotted Karen sitting at the front desk. "Nothing."

"Nothing,' Karen answered when she greeted her cousin. "I take it Clark hasn't pulled his head from his backside yet."

"I talked to Lois a little bit, clued her in on what was happening, but the Fortress locked her and Lana out," Chloe responded and she got a couple of anxious looks from Karen and Harry. "I know, I know, I shouldn't have but it's best if we're all on the same page."

"If they try and force the issue with Clark, I'm sure that's going to really unite us," Harry answered, before he saw the latest news about the gang war going on in Gotham City. The Cobblepot and Thorne factions were vying for territory, with someone named Black Mask also trying to cut in. The Falcone family was hanging in there, trying to keep ahold of their territory, but they lost a lot of ground. Then there was the matter of the District Attorney Harvey Dent, who was hospitalized with severe acid burns, and half of his face might be permanently disfigured. "But, again, I don't know."

If Clark sat this one out, Harry wouldn't mind all that much. He spent too much of his time and resources trying to protect Clark from doing something stupid before he's ready. The young wizard carefully eyed everything that was there and thought about it.

Kara returned and she brought someone with her.

"I'm telling you Thara, glasses are the perfect disguise, I don't know why but they are," Kara responded, when she walked forward, dressed in a black jacket, blue blouse, and a short skirt, with stockings and high heels. She had her hair tied back into a ponytail and wore glasses. "Oh Thara, this is my husband, Harry Potter."

"Pleased to meet you, Harry,' Thara stated when she eyed him up and down; yes she was very pleased to meet him indeed. If there was one thing that she could not fault Kara for, it was her good taste in partners. Although Harry was the first guy that Kara had been with. Thara mentally stressed the term guy, trying not to blush when she thought of some of the ways her and Kara helped each other relieve stress. "My name is Thara Ak-Var, I'm Kara's best friend from Krypton."

"Really?" Harry asked in a surprised voice and he eyed his wife. "Kara's never mentioned you."

"Kara, one would think that you're ashamed of me," Thara stated when she watched her best friend and Kara slumped her shoulders before she sighed.

"Last time we talked before today, we had a big fight," Kara answered when she shrugged. "It was too painful to talk….to think about you. Plus you were dead and it was…."

Kara trailed off and Thara gave her best friend an understanding smile. She watched Kara carefully, before hugging her tightly. Their contact made Harry think that they were closer than sisters before they broke apart.

"I understand Kara," Thara whispered when she parted her blonde hair.

"This is Karen Starr, she's Kara from an alternate universe, but that's a long story in its own right," Harry responded when he carefully watched them all. "And this is Chloe Sullivan."

"Pleased to meet you," Thara stated, she remembered the name Chloe.

"It's nice to see there's another Kryptonian on the side of good," Chloe remarked, feeling that if Kara trusted this woman, she should at least give her the benefit of the doubt. Thara raised an eyebrow. "Sorry, we've had a lot of problems with Kryptonians, most of them have been….not on the side of good."

"Fair enough," Thara stated, but she held her hands up carefully. "I can assure you that I come in peace.

"I sure hope so," Chloe offered in a half joking voice and half serious voice, when she shrugged her shoulders a little bit. The blonde carefully considered everything. "I take it there's a reason why you're here."

"Yes, there's a pretty good reason," Thara answered when she eyed them. "I should take it that you know about the orb."

Harry, Karen, Kara, and Chloe exchanged expressions of anxiousness. The orb was a problem, because of the fact it got opened.

"We're trying to find them all," Harry offered Thara who nodded and smiled, before shifting herself carefully. The dark haired Kryptonian girl turned around. "I don't know if Kara's told you about the Shining Light Foundation…"

"She has, it's to help those with powers deal with them," Thara responded when she watched them. "Some of the Kandorians are going to be fanatically loyal to Zod."

"That will be tested when he can't get them their powers back," Kara argued but her friend turned her head.

"Don't underestimate him at all," Thara warned them carefully and Kara understood it. "And if Zod knows that you can give them their powers back, he won't…."

"I've got it, be careful with the powers, and be discreet," Chloe stated, she had to pass the word off to Lois and Lana and shot off to do so.

**X-X-X**

Alura In-Ze stood at the edge of the Artic, listening carefully, she managed to track a piece of Kryptonian technology to this outpost. She tried to figure out what the significance of the technology that was placed out in the Artic was. The blonde edged carefully towards the humming she heard. She slid across the artic snow and ice and could sense it, the crystal fortress was very near.

She hovered a few inches above the ground and frowned when she continued to watch what was happening; every single movement in the Artic. Could the Kandorians have set up shop here? The blonde watched, pulling the hood over her face from the Earth clothes she salvaged. Someone hung them out on the line so she figured that they were not wanted. She wore a black jacket, a blue top, and blue jeans, with the glasses on her face.

Alura edged forward closer and continued to listen for the humming from beneath the ice. She edged inside and slipped inside.

She looked up and her eyes were widened when she crossed her arms. This Fortress, it was incredible. She edged forward and lightly touched the wall. The symbols contorted a little bit. There was a presence here. She sensed that much.

Alura edged herself closer and closer to the edge of the Fortress. The blonde bit down on her lip nicely, when she crossed her arms and her head inclined forward.

"You have done well Kal-El but you have hit a wall," the voice echoed throughout the Fortress. "You have trained sufficiently when your powers have returned."

"If you wish to return home, then, there is no more that you could learn at this juncture," Lara stated when her voice softened. "It is time for you to return to the world. Your cousin wishes to help you with something, she is concerned, as are your mates. Do not go down the road that I think you may, for it is a barren one."

"I don't need Kara to fight my battles for me, or anyone else," Clark stated in a harsh voice as he spun around. He was sick of being weak.

"You are still grieving about what happened, but with the orb opened, you need to work together and you need help," Lara responded carefully to her son but annoyance crossed her voice. Her son was acting like a self-entitled brat. She knew Martha and Jonathan did not raise him to be such. She was going to have to take steps to correct his behavior if he kept this up much longer. "That's one of the most valuable lessons that you need to learn, assistance is not something that should be shunned."

Clark barely heard what his mother was said, if he wanted to grow as a hero, he needed to stand alone. He hated how he had to rely on Jor-El to restore his powers to the level he was. Despite everything, he could not fly, no matter what he tried. His father tried to tell him that it was Clark that was holding himself back.

He sped out of the Fortress, with Alura standing in the shadows. She was undetected by the voice in the cave. The voice that resembled Jor-El in many ways but it felt cold and indifferent for some reason. The blonde frowned, when she stepped forward towards the console at the Fortress.

"Who is there?" Jor-El demanded when she turned up. "Identify yourself."

She sped off before she had to identify herself, she would need to keep a close eye on the Fortress and hoped that Zod would not find it.

**X-X-X**

"We'll know in a little bit if they reach out and touch us," Chloe stated when she turned around but then she saw it posted online and opened up the video clip, biting down on her lip. "There's been a Blur sighting….it seems like he's been sighted everywhere but Metropolis and Smallville."

"So he's avoiding those places," Karen offered but she wanted to say no more about him and she could sense that Kara did not want to say anything else. In fact, the younger blonde was at the end of her rope regarding her cousin and his recent sour attitude about everything.

"He's become the son of Jor-El," Kara whispered to herself, in a way that she indicated that was not a good thing but Claire popped up. The blonde quickly turned her face into a cheerful expression. "Hi Claire, what do you need, sweetie?"

The twelve year old girl watched them carefully. "There seem to be a lot of new people coming here, aren't there?"

Harry reconciled in his mind how to best explain about the orb to the girl and also the fact that several people got brought back to the dead.

"I think that people were hearing how good of a job you've done here, that they want to give this place a chance," Harry offered his daughter, when he pulled a chair out.

"Oh cool, the Blur, I thought he disappeared," Claire responded when she saw the clip that the quartet was watching on the computer screen. "But why isn't he in Metropolis?"

Kara tried to keep the bitterness out of her voice. "I don't know, why don't you ask him?"

"How am I supposed to ask him when I don't know who he is?" Claire asked when she put her hands on her forehead. She thought about it carefully. "I mean, he's only the fifth best hero in the world."

"The fifth best hero in the world?" Chloe asked when she watched the young girl.

"Well there's Arcane, Supergirl, and Power Girl," Claire stated with a knowing smile, before she turned her head around and thought. "And then there's Miss Martian and then after that, it's the Blur. And then there's Batman after that, I guess too. But not Green Arrow, he's kind of lame."

Kara gave Karen a knowing smile and Karen could barely hold in her laughter.

"Hey, what about me?" Chloe asked with a mock pout.

Claire rolled her eyes. "You're okay, but it's not like you have a codename yet."

"Hey, yeah I do, how about Watchtower?" Chloe asked when Kara and Karen barely hid the rolling of their eyes.

"Sounds more like a base than a person really, Chlo," Harry responded carefully.

"Okay fine, how about…Matrix?" Chloe asked but then she cringed as the three Heralds groaned. "Yeah, I'm not feeling that one either."

Harry smirked. "No kidding."

"Well Kara's Supergirl, and I'm Power Girl, so we might as well keep the motif going," Karen stated when she eyed her. "How about…."

The doors of the Shining Light Foundation opened and Harry's eyes snapped up when he saw who stood before him.

"You!"

"We need to talk, it's about the Kandorians."

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter. **


	5. Chapter 5: Experiment

**Chapter Five: Experiments.**

Lily Evans stood in front of the desk of the Shining Light Foundation as bold as brass and Harry watched her carefully. Kara, Karen, and Chloe eyed her distrustfully as well. Whilst Karen never had much experience with Lily or her games, Chloe and Kara had more than plenty. The two blondes fixed their expression on the red head before them, carefully turning their heads and they inclined themselves with a nod, before their eyes burned into her face with a stare.

"So, the Higher Ups brought you back to life as well," Harry responded when he turned around before he looked at Lily. "Why?"

Lily waved her hand to try and appease her son but she could feel the tension rolling off of him when she stared him down. It was just as well, she knew what her corrupted journal self did to him, she got the memories and it turned her stomach a little bit. The journal was a good idea in practice but it got somewhat corrupted with all of the dark magic flying around the room on the night that Voldemort attacked and killed her, before trying to kill Harry.

"I didn't bring myself back to life, rather years ago on Krypton, I inserted my DNA into the orb that brought the Kandorians to Earth," Lily answered before Chloe turned towards her with a biting expression on her face.

"Yeah, and you thought this was a good idea because…."

"I thought it was a good idea because if all went wrong, I could be here to help steer them towards a better path," Lily stated as she looked up and could feel the distrust rolling off of them. It was almost intoxicating come to think about it. The red haired woman carefully watched the trio when they stared at her. Even Claire's gaze was filled with mistrust. She smiled at Claire, who did not return it. "So is this my grandchild?"

"You're not allowed to speak with or make eye contact with her," Kara responded in a cold voice, she remembered what happened last time Lily was in a close proximity with Claire.

Lily felt the hostility; one could cut it with a knife. She wondered what she would have to do to atone for her sins, but she know knew that they were no closer to tracking down the Kandorians than she was, despite her constant searching. Zod was far more dangerous without his powers than he might have been with them and far craftier as well. She figured he had magical assistance as well. There was no rock that she left unturned but yet they kept eluding her.

Despite the tracking spell that she placed on them, they kept slipping out of her fingers, and she bit down on her lip when she thought about it more and more.

"It's about the Kandorians," Lily stated to break the tension and this caused four sets of eyes to turn slowly towards her.

"So, you have our attention," Chloe responded in a dry voice.

Lily figured that she might, when she focused her attention on three of her son's many wives. She carefully watched them, keeping them in close proximity. The red head watched the three blondes and her sons.

"What are they up to?" Harry asked, he dispensed with all pleasantries, he wanted to get down to the information.

Lily smiled, she figured that there was going to be a lack of trust, but nothing this cold. Her son stared her down with burning intensity that flicked through her eyes. There was a moment when she crossed her arms and carefully took a look at them before she responded with her answered.

"The Kandorians are experimenting on humans," Lily responded, getting the one piece of information she could find out for sure.

"They're what?" Kara asked, when she got up to her feet but Harry grabbed Kara around the wrist, before pushing her back down onto the seat. Kara relaxed a little bit but did not say anything much. Her eyes carefully flickered shut.

"Do you have any proof?" Harry asked but sure enough, she placed the pictures down on the table.

Chloe eyed the picture, her eyes widened when she spun around and carefully took a look at them. She gave a slight gasp when she recognized the person in the pictures and turned to her fellow spouses. "That's John Corben, he's…."

"I know, new reporter at the Planet, he didn't turn up for work yesterday," Harry responded when he turned around before he saw the mangled state of his body, when he eyed them carefully, before placing his hands on the paper. "Yeah, I can see why he didn't."

"So the Kandorians are experimenting on people like him," Kara responded before she spun around to focus for a moment, a sickening turn going through her stomach but Lily's expression grew rather grim.

"Well to be fair none of these people are alive," Lily answered in a delicate voice when she looked at the papers. "They've snatched them up, corpses from the hospitals, accidents, they're not much of anything to be honest."

Harry knew what this meant and he didn't like it, the Kandorians were trying to find a way to get their powers back. Zod riled them up with promises and he had his own agenda, one that could give Harry a headache. He put a hand to his forehead and spun around, before throwing his head back as he took a moment to bite down on his lip. He carefully stepped to his feet before he made his way towards the door but stopped and spun around, before facing Lily.

"You're going to help me sort this one out," Harry responded, he didn't quite believe that Lily was unaware of where the Kandorians ran off to. The two of them picked up the pace and continued to walk forward with a purpose.

"You don't trust me," Lily answered, this was not a complaint, rather a statement.

"Do you even need to ask me why?" Harry asked to her and Lily shook her head.

"No, but I know why, that journal….she took my objective a bit too far," Lily answered in a small voice before she followed Harry forward. He barely looked over her shoulder. "You've got to believe me Harry, I never would have done half of the things that journal did."

Harry would have liked to believe her but the problem was that he could not believe her because that would be stupid. That was a huge issue that he was not going to be able to shake free of any time soon. The young wizard twisted his attention away from her before they kept walking a little bit forward.

* * *

John Corben could hardly believe this, the other dayhe was strong and able to stand up straight, without any problems. He was the epitome of health when he thought of it, he had barely been sick of the day of his life and now he shook his head, when his eyes closed a little bit. He remembered it, every single bit of it he remembered, the pain that racked through his body.

The truck went down the road and slammed into him with sickening impact, rocking him and rattling him. Corben felt numb to all emotions, all sensations, but yet he felt the anger. The anger at those who failed to save him but despite that fact, the Blur managed to save everyone but him. His arms pulsed with fury when he heard the clicking and grinding of the metal implant in his body. The green glow, the modified green glow pumped through his body.

He gingerly pulled himself to his feet and walked forward with the thump of body. By all rights, he should be dead and he wished that he was. He would have been crushed; his jaw was set when he turned around. Corben continued to walk forward and saw the newspaper.

'_Where is the Blur?'_

That was the question that he wanted an answer to, before he slammed his hands on the wall in frustration. Corben could sense the heat around him and the energy pulsed through his body. He tried to mess with the tubes but he found that they were not something that he could mess with. Rather he tried to pull himself forward, carefully making himself stand up tall.

Perhaps things would be turned around, making a negative into a positive. Perhaps this strength could be turned into something that he was able to utilize to great success. He stepped into the light before he spun around and looked into the mirror.

His eyes widened when his mouth twisted into a nasty smile. His chest was ripped open with a gaping hole that was glowing green with the energy rock in it and the prosthetic element fused into his being, with a huge thump echoing in his ears. Another thump echoed through his ears and he placed his fingers onto the glowing rock, slowly running them down it and his eyes widened when he breathed heavily.

This was not the best situation in the world to be in and his teeth gritted as he studied the situation around him.

Who did this to him, that was what he wanted to know? He reached over before he picked up the mirror and smashed it down on the floor. The broken glass flew in every direction as he stepped over it on the floor. He ran his hands down his body, feeling the veins throbbing.

They gave a green glow, he could see that much and Corben walked over, when he saw the newspaper clippings of the blur hanging on the wall around him. He reached up and grabbed one of the surgical tools. He hoisted it up over his head before he smashed it into the wall with fury. His teeth twisted into a sadistic smirk.

The metal pieces of the tool dropped down.

He wanted to do the same thing to the Blur, all he wanted to do was wrap his hands around the throat of the Blur and strangle him down to his knees. He wanted to get his revenge, he was elevated up above the people of the city as someone who was a savior but he was nothing compared to them all. He had to feel the same pain that he felt.

Revenge was first and foremost in his mind, it was something that drove most men and it was something that drove John Corben to move forward with his next move, he could taste what was going to happen almost, he wanted to accomplish something that would bring him some level of clarity.

Revenge on the Blur, yes that was the ticket, the blood of this false savior would rain across the streets of Metropolis. He twisted another tool in his hand before he watched it drop to the ground, clattering to the ground. It was bent in his hand, bent as the twisted mind of John Corben turned into after the process. He stepped forward and waited for the next move.

The games would begin in a matter of moments and he walked into the city. He had a sense that the Blur was around.

"Show yourself!" he yelled out into the distance but there was no answer.

That was fine, he'd make the Blur answer for all he's done.

* * *

Clark Kent stood in the shadows, not moving, not blinking, and most certainly not speaking. He embraced a part of himself that he failed to embrace. Yet, despite all of that, he lacked the ability to fly. Jor-El and Lara assured him that he would have the same abilities that Kara would, that the others had, but much to his frustration.

He was far weaker than all of them and that was unacceptable.

"Hey, it's about time you showed up!"

Lois turned up when she stepped in front of Clark and the two of them stared each other down. He looked at her, this was not the time and he was not ready to have this conversation. In fact, he was not sure if he was going to be ever ready for this conversation. Lois stared Clark down but he nodded his head slightly towards her and Lois's mouth snapped into a frustrated expression.

"Really, after all of this time, that's all you got, that?"

Lois nodded her head like Clark's did and Clark responded with another stiff nod of his head.

"Clark, I really don't want to do this but you've forced me to…."

Lois never finished her sentence when Clark scooped up Lois and rushed her away at super speed. She could barely react that what he did, he caught her completely off guard. Grudgingly, if she had not been so flipping annoyed but what he did, she would give him a lot of credit. He got her, he really did. Yet, he carried her off and she was set down on the ground on her feet.

Lois was about to say something but Clark spun around and ran off.

"Oh no you don't Clark Kent, you're not getting away that easily," Lois stated when she pushed herself back and flew in the sky towards him.

Lois spun around when she looked at him. He could not have given her the slip that easily, that would be an insult to her and her abilities and that was not something that she took lightly.

"Problem Lois?"

Lana turned up beside Lois, biting down on her lip nervously and Lois looked over her shoulder, her expression becoming quite serious when she nodded.

"Yeah there's a problem alright, I've found Clark," Lois responded when she pointed him out or at least where she thought that she would go.

"We should have a link where we could follow him…damn it, how is he blocking us out?" Lana swore as she threw her hands into the air.

"Some Grade-A Superdickery, he wouldn't even say Hello," Lois responded before she turned around. She had never been more frustrated, even though the time where he press pass was misspelled "Louis Lame" came pretty close. This threw her frustration in an entirely new level and she moved forward.

Raya turned up beside Lois and Lana.

"So, you're the expert on Kryptonians, what happened to Clark?" Lana asked when she looked at Raya.

"You've known him for longer than I have," Raya answered, throwing the ball back into their court but Lois was not one to be frustrated that easily.

"No, but you should know what's happening to him, you're the one who took him to the fortress," Lois fired back before she peered through her eyes and tried to focus her X-Ray vision on Clark. One super powered individual should not be hard enough to find although one might be surprised when they put their minds to what happened.

"Jor-El restored him to life and Clark decided to go upon his training," Raya answered when she spun her head around.

Lana had to cut in. "I don't think that Clark was ready."

"No, I disagreed as well but that was what Kal-El wanted," Raya answered in a delicate voice.

Before this conversation could go any further than it did, there was a gravitational pull that brought the trio down to the ground. They felt an energy force like they had never felt before but Lana's eyes widened when she saw the green glow.

"Kryptonite, that's….that's impossible," Lana breathed as she felt the breath leave her when she dropped down to the ground.

Lana, Lois, and Raya dropped like flies, their bodies weakened, but they tried to push themselves up to the ground.

"Oh, I think it's…very possible," Lois grumbled when she tried to push herself back up to the ground.

"But, that's impossible because Harry cured us against it," Lana responded with a pained gasp, she remembered it and she knew that the cure was still in her. In fact, Lana could feel the cure still inside her, but for some reason, there was something in that particular chunk of Kryptonite that negated it. She tried to lift her head up but she saw the imposing figure walk towards her.

"Corben," Lois breathed, when she felt her throat close up in the agony. She sensed this rock wasn't like any of the meteors she ever encountered before. "What the hell happened to you?"

Corben's expression turned towards Lois, a half remorseful and half angered expression filled his eyes. Lana tried to turn over, this did not add up, the Kryptonite should not and did not harm her normally. She tried to go after him, but she found herself collapsing like a drowned kitten.

"You're not the Blur, but you'd do given this rock took you down," Corben responded when he reached down.

A blur shot out of nowhere and grabbed Corben around the waist, before leaping him up into the air and pushing him up into the sky away from Lois, Lana, and Raya.

"What just happened?" Lois asked when she blinked.

Raya offered a slight smile, pained as it might be. "I think that the person who we were supposed to protect…."

"Protected us," Lana concluded before she turned around, feeling the energy of her body returning to full strength, along with the healing glow and the warm embrace of a yellow sunlight. Lana Lang had to admit that was a liberating feeling even if her knees started to buckle a little bit. She wondered who enhanced the Kryptonite, because it should not have been able to affect them at all. Some kind of magical argumentation was at work, she was sure of it.

Meanwhile on the roof, Corben landed with a sickening crack, his knees knocking together when he threw his head up. He watched his enemy, move around him, circling him, before lead pellets were flung at him.

"What's that supposed to do?"

There was no response from the Blur, rather he blocked enough of the radiation to dive forward. A large fist impacted him the side of the head and rattled him, before two hands hoisted up Corben and slammed him down.

"You have strength, but I think you've met your match," Corben responded as the core his chest heated up before he blasted a large surge of radiation towards his enemy.

Clark staggered, his head was dizzy and he nearly fell off the roof, but Corben grabbed him around the back of the neck, before pulling him into a huge punch to the ribs. Another huge punch to the ribs rocked Clark, and several more drilled him as his knees buckled to his side.

"Does the cat have your tongue?" Corben asked before he tried to flip Clark off the roof.

Another figure spend up and a bright white light blasted Corben in the chest. He screamed when his veins heated up, when the second figure pushed him off of the roof and slammed him onto the opposing side.

He lost most of the feeling in his nerves yet somehow he could still feel that. Corben's body racked with immense and burning pain, he started to breathe more heavily and blood splattered down his chest, when it poured from his mouth. The Kryptonite implant ripped from his chest, causing all of the life to drive out of him.

The burning white scythe popped out of Harry's hand and slammed down onto the chest cavity of his enemy. Corben burned when he felt the tender embrace of Death, being dragged into the afterlife. His time was long since up to begin with, the higher ups accepted him into the afterlife completely, even if he was partially there to begin with. He screamed out in pure agony when he was dragged further into the beyond.

Harry spun around, letting out the breath he was holding, he held the piece of Kryptonite in his hand, he felt like live fire. He spun around to face Clark.

Clark turned around without saying a word, rather he zoomed off in the other direction.

"You're welcome," Harry responded, before he inclined his head and shook it a little bit.

'_Fucking ingrate,' _Harry thought to himself, thinking that he might have to have a talk with Clark's mother if he kept acting like this.

If Clark wanted to act that way, that was really his problem. He moved off without saying a word, without acknowledging the presence of Harry. Harry had far bigger problems then the woes of Clark Kent and him acting like a mopey three year old.

"Someone enhanced this Kryptonite," Harry responded before he turned towards Lily who stood there, a look of confusion on her face that Harry did not buy for a second.

"Accusations don't become you Harry," Lily answered when she eyed it, to be honest, she was interested who did it. "The charm work is amazing, isn't it?"

Harry would have to agree, the charm work was amazing, and he wondered who did it. Suspect number one hovered underneath his nose but given the fact that the higher ups brought countless people back to life, he did wonder. A moment of doubt appeared in his mind. There was someone there that should not be and he was willing to give Lily the benefit of the doubt for now.

"May I see that?" Lily asked but Harry pulled it away.

He was going to be trusting, to an extent but there was a limit to how trusting he was and Harry walked off, with the Kryptonite in his hand. It was something new. Corben would not be coming back, at least not for a very long time and once again, Harry had no idea how he would feel about that. All he knew was that there was something in the palm of his hands.

There were answers, answers that the Kandorians were looking for. They had help and whoever was with them, if they helped them work with the proper charm work, then they could be brought back to life. Harry always thought that as a possibility in the back of his mind and carefully looked up a little bit. There were a lot of problems with what happened and now Harry hoped to piece them together.

'_One step at a time,' _he thought.

* * *

Harry sat in front of the implant and the remains of Metallo, whilst he enjoyed a good puzzle; this was something that stumped him beyond all belief. He cupped his hand to his chin and he kept the eye on the metallic implant. He was able to shield the Kryptonite so it did do no damage.

"So you saw Clark," Kara responded when she walked up towards her husband.

"Yes, I saw him," Harry answered whilst he took a look at the implant, barely able to keep his eyes off of the modified piece of Kryptonite. He studied in fairly intently.

"What did he say?" Kara asked while she crossed her arms and bit down on her lip, before the blonde hair flipped into her face. She waited for Harry to give an answer but she did not have to wait long.

"Nothing," Harry admitted carefully still studying the Kryptonite.

"Nothing?' Kara asked, unable to believe that, actually she could believe it given how Clark was acting.

She might be having a talk with his mother, both of them, if he kept this up.

"Which was amazing because if it wasn't for me, he would be dead," Harry responded before throwing his head back and sighing. "Again."

"He used his powers then?" Kara asked him and Harry's head nodded up and down. She decided to ask the necessary follow up question, even though she was very hacked off about Clark now. She really had no call to take it off on Harry. "He restored them after all."

"He restored them indeed," Harry answered while he continued to tinker with the implant. He had a feeling that if he could find some kind of energy signature in it, before he flickered it over.

So many people could be brought back to life, and not all of them were going to be a happy, joyous reunion. Harry ran a tool over the implant, collecting the sample, before he edged over when he carefully took a moment to consider it. The young mage and Herald of Death stepped over to the Shining Light Foundation computer. The young man carefully put the samples into the computer.

"Analyze," Harry ordered the computer in a flat voice.

The Shining Light Foundation computer began to blink to life and Harry stood back with Kara, waiting for the computer to go to life. The Heralds of Death stood together before the two of them grabbed hands and waited. Karen turned up to watch the computer but remained silent, when the trio of Heralds watched it. There were a few clicks and shifts, before the computer blinked and rattled, before it hummed out a reading.

"The rock from Krypton has been magically engineered not by charm work but through potions," the computer responded to Harry.

"Potions?" Karen asked with widened eyes.

"Yes, Potions," Harry added carefully with a smile crossing over his face, but he allowed everything to register. There was something about this bit of news that gave Harry a great deal of concern but then everything slowly turned to his eyes.

Lily Evans was one of the top students of her year in Potions that was a fact that Harry remembered. Therefore her guilt was pretty much looking stronger by the day.

"We're going to talk to Lily, she should know about this," Kara responded and the three of them ran off but Chloe slumped over the front desk, knocked out.

It took them a moment for them to figure out what happened.

Harry's eyes widened when concern flooded through them, when he grabbed Chloe before he pushed her up. Her breathing was rather shallow when he got her up. The young wizard looked in her face and revived her.

"Sorry, Harry, I….I don't know what happened," Chloe managed when she shuddered a little bit and brought herself back to life.

"Someone knocked you out, that's what happened," Harry responded with a frown before he made Chloe stay still, to check her for any head injuries. After all, she was knocked unconscious.

"As much as I don't want to jump to the worst possible conclusion…."

Chloe cut off Kara immediately when she tried to recall what happened, it was extremely difficult to do so. Her head thumped with the thoughts of what happened but she focused on everything before the blonde bit down on her lips. "I'm….I don't know what to tell you but….it wasn't Lily, she got knocked out, then I got knocked out as well…"

'_Well, that adds a new wrinkle,' _Harry thought to himself.

Harry punched up the security footage; all he saw was a blur shape and then a pair of green eyes.

"Sinclair," Harry responded as he jumped to what he thought was the most logical conclusion. "It about figures that she has an axe to grind with Lily as much as anyone."

"And who are we rooting for in this situation, prey tell?" Chloe asked when Harry continued to check her for a concussion. "Am I…."

"Sleeping spell, you're good," Harry responded with a smile crossing his face, but he wished he could be a bit happier.

If it was Sinclair, Harry thanked his lucky stars that she was merciful, because she could have just sooner killed Chloe and Lily. Although what she wanted with Lily now, Harry had no idea.

'_The glorious war of sisterly rivalry,' _Harry thought to himself, with a shrug.

Indeed, there was something rotten that Harry could not put his finger on and he hoped to figure out what that was soon. He analyzed the metal implant and kept it under a lock and key. It might serve as insurance later. The entire Kandorians thing was leading to one roller coaster ride after another and the young wizard carefully kept his eyes turned forward, hoping that he could make some sense out of this entire mess. Even if everything lacked any sense, Harry wanted to get a slight semblance of it.

Still, the location that they were part of was not the main Shining Light Foundation facility, they expanded in the meantime and therefore all of the security spells were not up properly. So the person that attacked, whether it be Sinclair or anyone else, she caught them with their pants down. Harry applauded them for their efforts as they took advantage of a window of opportunity that they would not otherwise have.

Now Harry wondered in the back of his mind and Kara sensed his wondering.

"You think it was staged?"

Harry paused when he placed his hand on his chin.

"I don't know Kara, I really don't know," Harry responded when Megan popped up. "Hey, Megan, what can I do for you?"

"Tess Mercer is on the phone Harry, she wants to talk to you about the….project," Megan answered, biting down on her lip in confusion. Kara, Karen, and Chloe were the only three people who knew about the project other than Harry and Tess.

"I'll take it, thanks Megan," Harry answered before he walked down the corridor and took the call. "We have a problem that might compromise the situation."

"What kind of a problem?" Tess asked Harry over the phone.

"The problem is that we have a rogue chess piece who isn't working as it should," Harry answered double checking to make sure there was no one listening. "And she's escaped."

"I'll make sure I have my people keep an eye out for her, this is exactly how I feared this was going to happen," Tess responded when she watched. "And she's playing the Kandorians for saps."

"I can find her at any time, I just need to know what the game of the other one is," Harry whispered carefully. "So far, she's on the move, which means I can't act. Not putting innocent people in the crossfire."

"You're still in for protecting the world," Tess answered in a cryptic tone of voice.

"I always have been," Harry answered when he paused. "Even if the traveler might shift from his purpose, given recent events."

"The contingency is in place," Tess responded before she paused. "For them all."

"Don't pull the trigger until we're ready for it," Harry responded while he took a moment to close his eyes and think about it. He hoped that everything work out in the end. He was playing with fire to begin with but he hoped that he could avert the future. "We still need to know what the Traveler's loyalty's lie but if he shifts from his purpose, then we will have to treat him like any other threat. With what I've learned and how he's been acting, he may not be reliable."

"Understood," Tess responded when she clicked off.

Harry hoped that it would never turn out to be that but after the glimpses he saw in Kara and Karen's memories, he was not taking any chances whatsoever. It was hell on Earth and all because of Clark. It couldn't be this way but it was, and he hated to really go any further than this.

He would wait and see if it would pan out that way before jumping to conclusions before he made contingency plans. The way Clark acted lately, he did himself no favors.

* * *

Alura In-Ze popped up, carefully edging from the shadows, she heard the whispers of the bodies being stolen. She already forged a human identity, by borrowing the credentials of one of doctors walking around the building. It was time where she figured everything out, when she decided where everyone stood and who she could trust. Trust, that was a big factor and a sticking point to say the very least, could she trust people?

She really hoped so because if she could not, then there was going to more problems than she ever imagined. The blonde zipped off to the side and carefully edged towards the bodies that had been returned.

There were the tell-tale signs of experiments, the Kandorians, whoever was behind this, worked on these people, took them apart, and put them back together the wrong way. She lightly brushed a DNA sample from the body of one of them and placed it into a bag. She wanted to make sure that she knew what they were doing and if necessary put a stop to it as soon as she could. She pushed herself back against the wall.

Alura heard footsteps which made her shift, albeit a little bit and she felt the tension rise, it cut be cut with a knife. The footsteps got even closer before she edged behind a set of cabinets in the corner. Her hands shook but she made sure to peer behind the cabinets, biting down on her lip when the blonde shifted herself.

There was a large clatter of approaching figures and she saw two people she recognized as Medical officers, they were on the fields of Kandor. They gave blood.

"Zod wants us to blend in, get more living samples, before he makes his move."

Alura reached behind them and took them out carefully. Her fingers pressed a nerve ending on the back of their neck and they dropped down to the ground, their knees slumped to the side before they collapsed. This gave Alura the opening she needed to search them for anything.

She found the portable computer and escaped, she had the information that she need. On this device, there was information on it what the Kandorians were up to. She eyed it carefully; it would have to be heavily encrypted. She would expect nothing less from Zod.

However, where there was a will, there was a way. Alura would have to find the way.

* * *

Rachel staggered a little bit, her magic was all over the place when her lessons finally resumed with Harry after the six week break the pair of them had. That fact was not gone unnoticed by Harry when he took a look at Rachel, who turned with a shudder and a long breath when she watched him.

"I've noticed that there is something about your form that seems a little bit off," Harry remarked when he looked at Rachel, who tossed her head back and turned to him.

"Guess I'm having an off day," she responded before she spun around, before taking a moment to watch and focus.

Harry reached forward and grabbed her around the wrist before he slowly turned her around,

"Are you sure you're having an off day, Rachel?" Harry asked when he brushed his hand against hers. This caused shivers to course down her spine when his fingers brushed against her wrist. "Or are you thinking about something that happened before we left?"

Rachel gave a shiver when she thought about what happened, oh yes she was thinking about what happened on that night. The sensations that she felt when Harry kissed her, perhaps on a whim, but she could not deny how nice that kiss felt.

"We could….we could really pretend that it didn't happen," Rachel offered when she eyed Harry a little bit, tentative and biting down on her lip. She was headstrong and confident in her studies, so this brought up a new side of her.

"Or you could explore a new possibility?" Harry asked when he ran his hands down her hair, causing goose bumps to appear on her arms. She shuddered a little bit; this warmth going through her body was not like anything she was ever to deal with before.

"My powers…."

"Shh," Harry whispered when he put a finger to her lips and this silenced her. "You could think, or you could feel. I know which one is the better one for me. Just feel it Rachel."

Harry slipped her cloak off to reveal her wearing a one piece leotard that wrapped around her curvy frame and showed the round texture of her buttock, her legs, and he saw her nipples poke out from underneath her top with the sensations of arousal. She closed her eyes.

"Feel," he repeated when she sat back, instinctively spreading her legs and he reached between her legs, when he pulled back the material of her. "Let everything go and feel."

She slowly let go of her inhibitions.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends.**

Several rounds later, and many pieces of destroyed furniture due to magical discharge later, Rachel and Harry laid spent on the floor among the debris.

"And I think all of our lessons should end this way," Rachel concluded when she rested her head on Harry's chest. A smile spread across her face.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter "Cure."**


	6. Chapter 6: Cure

_Posting Schedule has been updated into the end of August for this story and others, so feel free to check that out when you have a chance._

**Chapter Six: Cure.**

Diana arrived outside of the Shining Light Foundation, with a smile on her face. It had been a few weeks since Harry left the island and she longed to see him again, and maybe even do more. Her mother managed to set it up where Diana was the official ambassador for Paradise Island in Man's World. Granted, there were some people who were wondering about this entire mess and a bit paranoid about an entire island that was off the map until today but she walked forward with confident strides. There was no way that she was going to miss this for the world.

The double doors of the Shining Light Foundation swung open to allow her entry and she stepped inside with a bright smile on her face, to continue to step forward. Her dark hair swung away from her face and Diana walked forward before she caught sight of a familiar face.

"Diana!"

Kara was the one who greeted her.

"Hello Kara, it's nice to see you again," Diana responded and Kara offered a bright smile across her face before she invited the dark haired woman inside.

"You as well," Kara answered, when she saw Karen sitting there. Karen moved over and greeted Diana with a tight hug.

"It's good to see you again," Karen stated with a smile when she sank into Diana's arms, her embrace felt quite nice. The blonde relaxed a little bit into the warm embrace of the Amazon.

Diana saw the person she wanted to meet, and she saw him walking down the steps. She moved forward and grabbed him into a hug, before pushing him against the wall and capturing his lips with a searing kiss. His green eyes snapped open in surprise but Harry turned around, watching her carefully and putting his hands on her hips, moving them down her body.

Harry felt her legs lock around him tightly, but given that there were people moving around the lobby, that was the extent of their greeting, at least for now. The young wizard pulled away from her, as Chloe came down the stairs.

Chloe offered a knowing smile towards Harry. "Hey, Diana, nice to meet you again."

"Hello Chloe, glad to see you again," Diana responded when she grabbed Chloe's hand in a gracious handshake.

Megan edged out of the background and grabbed Harry, before she whispered something in his ear.

"Harry, you've got to see this, something's going down on the news," Megan responded and Harry nodded, before he edged away, leaving Diana, Kara, Karen, and Chloe to interact.

"So how did you and Harry get together?" Diana asked, making conversation.

"Well it all started when Harry saved me when I was an inch from death, you sort of grow attached to someone when you have a life debt to him," Chloe offered with a smile before she added in a confident voice. "But you know what, I'd be with Harry regardless, he actually is quite perception."

"Although he said he didn't used to be that way, until he met me," Kara answered with confidence. "So are you here for the long haul, Diana?

Diana nodded with a smile crossing her face. "I am, mother decided to put me here in hopes of bridging the two worlds. I'm going to stay here for a while."

"And I'm sure there are certain fringe benefits in taking the job," Karen answered with a smirk crossing her face.

Diana had to admit that the other girl had a point; she took the job in part to be near Harry and hoped that they had a bit more time to spend with each other. She had this feeling that they barely scratched the surface of what Harry could do the island and Diana needed certain itches that needed scratching. Now that she sampled a bit of him, she wanted the entire package and could hardly wait to acquire that.

There was a long pause before Harry returned and the look on his face indicated that he had no good news. He threw the papers down on the table when he watched them carefully and Chloe, Kara, and Karen spun around, with Diana following him.

"Three reports like this just in the last hour, and the hand of something sinister was at foot," Harry answered as he showed them the papers.

"They experienced symptoms that made them rapid, and caused them to lash out," Kara read as she looked at it and dread spread over her body. "That sounds like the….Shrieking Madness."

"Come again?" Chloe asked, looking at Kara with a raised eyebrow.

Kara decided to explain it to her. "It has a more scientific name than that, but it's what it's commonly called. Thara told me about it, it was the disease that infected most of the people on Argo and killed them. It also wiped out many Kryptonians four hundred years before the planet's destruction, and crippled our economy. But it only infects Kryptonians."

Kara decided to get to someone who would be an expert on this, Thara cured the Shrieking Madness on Argo but the damage had been done and most were either dead or in a catatonic state.

"Thara, have you heard the reports?" Kara asked to her friend over the phone.

"Yes, Kara….it sounds like the Shrieking Madness," Thara responded in a fretful tone of voice as she let a deep breath in and out. "But I thought that it only affected us."

"Someone must have reversed engineered it to effect humans," Kara responded, fretfully biting down on her lip.

"I'll see if I can pop in and get a blood sample from one of the infected," Thara told her and Kara waited.

Two minutes later, Thara popped up and had the blood sample in hand. It was in a vial and the blood bubbled sinisterly.

"Chloe, please get this blood analyzed immediately," Harry requested and Chloe nodded but his cellphone went off with a text messages.

'_Zombies, mansion, need assistance. TM.'_

Harry, Kara, Karen, and Diana all sped off, with Thara and Chloe staying there to analyze the blood.

"So how long does it take to manufacture a cure for this Shrieking Madness?" Chloe asked Thara and her face fell.

"About six months," Thara responded in an agitated voice. "And that's about six months we don't have, at this rate, the Madness will burn through all of humanity in three, if we're fortunate."

Someone wanted to commit genocide on a global scale to humanity but what they would have to gain? Surely the Kandorians could not be that cruel, surely they would not be able to infect humanity at such a rate.

"I'll run this through the Shining Light Foundation computers, if anything can find a cure, it can," Chloe responded before she walked forward, she was half distracted by what was going on around her. She hoped that it would work out well like a charm.

* * *

Tess backed against the wall, swinging a baseball bat with all of her might, eyes widened, and breathing heavily. She was up against the wall in the literal and figurative sense of the world, her heart beat up against her chest when she worked herself up against the wall. Two of her security guards lost their minds after they dosed off after a late shift and were about ready to tear her throat open. One of them scratched her and she felt the stinging pain.

"Remember, try not to hurt them, they're human beings."

Karen dodged a swing from a sharp object and swung around, before she kicked the monster in the back of the head. The monster dropped down to the ground.

"Yeah, tell it that," Karen stated, when she ricocheted her heat vision off of the pipes, and caused the water from the sprinkler systems to blind them.

The zombies stepped back but Harry caused fire to fly in the air. Zombies were resistant to fire, that much he remembered, and that allowed Kara, Karen, and Diana to administer sedatives to them. Thankfully Harry had a few on hand, in case the guests at the Shining Light Foundation got out of control.

"Are you okay?" Diana asked, bending down and checking on Tess.

"Other than the fact I feel like the extra in a Slasher film, I feel fine," Tess responded as she shook her head a little bit and cleared the cobwebs.

Her heart beat sped up a little bit and Harry, Diana, Kara, and Karen all could tell that she was a bit out of it. Harry placed a hand to her forehead and felt the burning sensation underneath his hand.

"You're burning up," Harry responded but this caused Tess to roll her eyes slightly.

"Yes, this is something that I haven't noticed," Tess responded, before she felt her heart beat faster.

"You've been infected, haven't you?" Kara asked when she prepared the sedative, but Tess lashed out and knocked her against the wall.

"Get out of here!" Tess yelled when her eyes became bloodshot and her teeth gritted, when her hands shook. Her skin became completely white and clammy, before she turned towards him and gave a shrieking growl.

"Back, I'll take care of this," Harry stated to his girls over his shoulder, as he spotted Tess advancing closer to him. Diana, Kara, and Karen to their credit stood their ground. "Tess, if you're in there somewhere, fight it. I know you like to be in control but you're not in control, you are out of control."

Tess, it appeared, was not in the mood for listening or reasoning, when she dove at Harry but the wizard ducked the attack, before he spun around and pivoted on his foot, before he nailed her into the back of the leg with a kick. The infection gave her some super vulnerability against attacks and Harry dove at her, but Tess dodged the attack.

"Tess, it's time to take your medicine," Harry stated but she blocked the sedative. A stunning spell did not work, her adrenaline was too hyped up for it to have any effect whatsoever.

Kara dove at Tess but Tess grabbed her by the hair, shrieking mad and whipped her back. Diana dove at her, before flipping her over, and taking her down by the legs. Karen dove at Tess's head.

Harry mulled it over, there was bad news and worse news with this situation. The bad news was that the virus enhanced Tess's strength, reflexes, and stamina. But there was worse news than that, the worse news is that in a matter of time, it would cause her to burst into flames and die in an extremely painful spontaneous combustion. Her blood would boil, her organs would burst, it was not a good way to die at all. Her eyeballs would be reduced to mush, all over the next seventy two hours.

"Tess, calm yourself, I think I can help you," Harry stated when Tess dove at Harry, and grabbed his arm, before her fingernails, now able to cut through solid steel thanks to the virus.

Kara's eyes widened but she was unable to stop that in time. The blonde carefully watched when her husband was scratched, and before she could react. The blood splashed out onto the scratch wound Tess had from when she got infected.

Tess threw her hands onto her head and screamed out loud, when the scratch healed over, her eyes became less blood shot, and her skin regained color. She dropped to the ground into the arms of Harry, holding her up, as her body gave a shuddering breath.

"What happened?" Kara asked, giving the question that was on all of their minds.

Harry shook his head. "I don't know, it was like a miracle, and she's….I don't know."

That was the fact of the matter, Harry simply did not know and now Tess could barely stand on her own two feet. She was still breathing and by a miracle, healed, completely. He ran a scan on her and would have to do a more detailed one to make sure, but the Shrieking Madness left Tess's body and she dropped to the ground, sinking into Harry's arms.

"Your blood healed her just like that?" Karen asked, trying to piece that together in her mind.

"It's….well I have a theory about my blood but I want to run it in a test in the Shining Light Foundation," Harry responded but Tess was responding rather well for someone who nearly died. A few scanning spells indicated that her vitals were back where they should have been.

Kara decided to add in the obvious point. "And we want to make sure that the virus didn't infect you. I know you're immune to most viruses that infect humans because of your powers, but we shouldn't take any chances."

* * *

"Well, you haven't been infected," Chloe remarked in a relieved voice, and Kara, Diana, and Karen all shared that relief. "But there are several interesting things about your blood."

Kara felt a bit of dread flood her. "Is this the good kind of interesting or the bad kind of interesting?"

Chloe shrugged her shoulders before she took the plunge. "Well your mileage might vary on that one."

Chloe took a few minutes to really enjoy keeping them in suspense before she burst out and said what was on her mind. The blonde threw her hair back a little bit and turned around with a twisted little smile on her face.

"Well for one thing your pheromone levels are shooting off the charts," Chloe responded when she grabbed Harry by the hand and looked at him. "Now, I know this is the Herald of Death thing, for the most part, but I don't think it's ever been that intense."

Harry thought so and Kara and Karen thought the same thing, so all three of the Heralds said in unison.

"It was the altar that we touched."

Chloe nodded, that was the thing that sent them off to the island for all of those weeks but this only scratched the surface. The Altar, whatever it was, it changed them a little bit but for how and what the scope was, she had no idea. The blonde carefully eyed the readings before she snickered.

"Well, if I'm reading these readings right, I'm sure that you won't have much trouble in the relationship department, as those pheromones that you were throwing off, will attract every women that has an attraction to you if you're in contact with them long enough," Chloe added when she read them. "Of course, that attention might not be the best, so I'd advise carrying a taser or something."

"Or I'll keep them in line," Kara responded, cracking her knuckles and Karen nodded in agreement.

"But why did his blood heal Tess?" Karen asked.

"This is curious….his blood has two elements that shouldn't exist together but yet they've turned Harry's blood into a powerful healing agent that is the cure to any disease," Chloe responded before she watched it. "Kind of."

Kara was carefully caught with this question and a frown crossed her face. "What do you mean, kind of?"

Chloe decided that it would be best to elaborate based off of the readings that she got off of the computer at the Shining Light Foundation. Granted there were parts of it that she did not understand but it was time for the blonde to do her best. Throwing her head back she answered it.

"Harry's blood is sentient."

Kara let out the breath that she was holding and her eyes shifted a little bit before she stated one simple sentence. "How?"

Chloe smiled before she was all too happy to elaborate what she meant with this statement. "His blood only healed Tess because his blood judged her worthy of being healed. So in theory, we could use Harry's blood to manufacture a cure but it's rather particular to who it heals. Therefore it could kill those that it judges undeserving of living."

Thara, who sat there the entire time without saying a word, finally spoke up, her eyes on the group. "Fortunately, we have a way around that."

She took this as her cue to elaborate this.

"Chloe and I have run a few simulations, with help from Alison," Thara responded and Alison smiled when she looked at them. "We have formulated a cure that should work but it needs one more element."

Diana raised an eyebrow before she watched Chloe shift to grab a remote control device from the desk drawer. "And that would be…."

"The blood sample from a pureblood male Kryptonian," Chloe concluded as she let the bomb drop.

"Well there's only one candidate for that, but he's pulling an emo mime act now," Karen responded, her voice dripping in disgust at the way Clark was acting as of late.

Kara was not too happy and she bit her tongue with the choice words that she had about Clark's recent change of attitude ever since Jor-El took a firmer hand in his training.

"Well I guess we're going to have to draw him out of hiding," Chloe stated whilst she pushed the button on the remote control device she had and waited patiently.

"And what makes you think he's going to come?" Alison asked as she spoke up for the first time. She was starting to come out of her shell a little bit but given how she had been raised, as a lab rat in the Department of Mysteries, it was hard to really relate to people.

Chloe watched the door, tapping her foot patiently, a shit eating grin appearing on her face. "Oh he'll come, if he wants his ears to stop bleeding any time soon."

Clark Kent could be a particularly stubborn person but he showed up at the Shining Light Foundation, a pained grimace etched on his face, when he massaged his ears.

"Clark," Chloe casually stated with a grim smile as she watched Clark, pleased that her "Clark signal" worked wonders.

"What in the name of Rao is your problem, Chloe?" Clark asked whilst he clutched his ears, they rang quite painfully from the sonic blast only tuned to his ears only.

"And it speaks," Chloe remarked dryly when she eyed Clark. "Look Clark, I know you don't like needles but we need a blood sample, the fate of the world depends on it."

Before Clark could get in a word edgewise, Chloe stabbed him in the arm with the Kryptonite needle, magically enhanced to get around the cure that all of them had been given some time back. He gave a pained anguish but it was not a fatal dosage. His eyes widened carefully when they got blood shot and Chloe extracted the blood from him. It looked painful but to do was oddly therapeutic given Clark's recent acts of Superdickery.

"The fate of humanity depends on this blood sample," Chloe responded, almost apologetically but not quite. "Sorry I didn't bother asking you the polite way, but there wasn't enough time. This is a time sensitive matter."

The cure was synthesized and Thara's face spread into a smile, a relieved one. The cure was being dispersed through the city and around the world. Hopefully that would make humanity immune for this virus.

"And it's working, thankfully it's working," Thara responded before she hugged Harry and Kara in relief. She realized what she did and pushed back, blushing slightly.

"The sentiment is appreciated," Harry responded with a smile, which caused her to turn away to completely hide her embarrassment, but Kara gave a knowing smile.

"Well, everything is going back to normal, and thanks to the cure, people won't remember anything they did under the influence," Chloe stated when she shifted and smiled, before giving a cough. When she thought about it, everything worked out well.

"That might be for the best," Harry concluded and they all agreed with nods.

"Well that was an eventful first day," Diana commented as she thought about it and wondered what tomorrow would bring.

"Every day is an adventure around here," Kara concluded, she would learn that soon enough.

* * *

"Why did you do it, Clark?" Chloe asked when he woke up and Clark's eyes turned towards Chloe, widened but then they narrowed in annoyance.

"I did it to protect…."

"To protect, that's always a funny term, isn't it?" Chloe asked, watching him through narrowed eyes.

"My powers, they're important, I figured that I could save everyone if I…."

"What Clark, distanced yourself from everyone?" Chloe asked when she eyed Clark and sighed in an exasperated manner, before she shifted back a little bit "And….then what, what were you going to do? Did you really think that was going to work?"

"I had to work that was what Jor-El told me," Clark responded but his voice trailed off, he realized how lame that sounded. Chloe's eyes widened and Clark could tell that was the wrong answer whatsoever to give her.

"So Jor-El told you this," Chloe answered in a crisp voice but it was Kara's turn to jump in.

"If Jor-El told you to jump into the sun because it was your destiny, would you do it?" Kara asked Clark. "We could have restored your powers easily, without you having to go to him."

"I didn't….I don't want to," Clark responded when he turned around huffily but the door gave off a glow that stopped him. "I can't believe you removed the Kryptonite cure to prove some kind of point."

"You don't have the defensive card to pull, after what you've pulled," Chloe answered closing her eyes. "You could be on the beginning of a road that leads to the deaths of countless people."

"What?" Clark asked, unable to believe what she said.

Kara was too happy to fill Clark in. "I'm not going to mince words, you betrayed us in the future."

"That's impossible, how do you know it was me?" Clark asked.

Kara turned around. "You thought that you were doing the right thing but Zod manipulated you like a chess pawn. Of course he manipulated you a little too good as he manipulated himself into the ground. And the Kandorians suffered."

'_And Harry died because of your actions and that won't happen,' _Kara thought to herself as Harry stepped up.

"I'll deal with Zod," Clark responded as he stood up on his feet.

"I hope you're mentally ready to handle him, Kal-El," Kara responded looking him into the eye. "Zod is more dangerous than anything you've ever faced before."

Clark felt annoyed at being treated like he was made of glass. "I've beat him before."

"You caught his Phantom Zone shade off guard once, that won't happen with the real deal," Kara responded when she folded her arms and peered in Clark's eyes, she dared him to contradict anything that she said, because she all knew it was true. "Clark, I understand your desire for independence but independence can be a high price to pay when you are out there against someone who would tear you limb from limb."

Kara paused before she added.

"I don't want that future to happen, not now, and now ever," Kara stated when her eyes closed and she threw her head back. She wished it would never have to happen this way but it did. "We can only avoid that future if we stand together."

It was almost like what Kara said drifted into one of Clark's ears and out the other. He nodded carefully. "May I go now?"

"You may, if you promise to go back to the farm and apologize to Lois, Lana, and Raya because of your actions," Kara responded when she watched Clark and looked him dead on in the eye. "Next time you pull a stunt like this, I swear, I'll remove that cure and dunk your head in liquefied Kryptonite. It won't kill you but you'll learn your lesson."

"And I can crank up the frequency on this button a lot more than I blasted you with," Chloe answered and Clark nodded, before she let him go off.

She did not even know if Lana and Lois returned to the Kent Farm yet. They were out searching for various leades on the Kandorians that landed and Chloe hoped them the best of luck. So far, no Kandorians had taken the olive branch that Harry threw out to invite them for the Shining Light Foundation. Chloe sighed in frustration, with her husband throwing his arms around her.

"It will be okay, Chlo," Harry stated when he nuzzled his face into the back of her neck. "He's…..he's going through a difficult time I think."

"As always you rationalize even the most irrational of things," Chloe stated with a smile but she felt the comforting and relaxing embrace of her husband's arms around her. That was something that gave her clarity and the ability to calm.

"So what is our next move?" Karen asked when she hung out from the door.

That was a really good question and they hoped to answer that one in due time. Now began the waiting game that the two of them played and the blonde closed her eyes before she took a moment to tap her foot on the ground, twisting her head from one side to the next.

"We wait, we watch, and we hope," Kara added, hoping that they had this one in their court, because if not they were screwed. They played what was called the waiting game.

* * *

The footsteps of Major Dru-Zod approached him, when he noticed that a modified version of the Shrieking Madness was released into the city, he was not displeased. It was all that he could do to keep his temper in check when he walked forward, taking a few steps in stride. The Major walked forward and hoped that he could punish the person who caused this. Who so foolishly revealed them to the people before the time was right. Zod thought that left some form of carelessness and strategy.

He saw the man, a soldier in his army named Coats, who engineered the virus. He was warned by Faora about the consequences of doing such a thing but yet he did it anyway. Zod stepped forward, preparing to make this man pay for what he did but there was no need because Coats dropped to the ground, a knife plunged between his shoulder blades, blood splashing down to the floor as he fell.

This lead to Zod's curiosity spiking up to a new degree and he reached forward, pulling the blade from his back, with a note attached to it. The blood of Coats rolled off of the note which stained his fingers. Yet despite this, Zod opened it.

_Zod,_

_Keep a tighter leash on your men. If I ever catch hint of any of them doing something like this again, I will not hesitate to take them down. This is your only warning. Don't test me, because we can destroy you all. We are watching. Don't take us lightly. We will do anything to protect the savior of Kandor. _

_A.G. _

Zod took the paper in his hand and clutched it tightly; he was rather amused at the thought of this paper in his hand. It hung from his hand and he watched the paper drop to the floor. Coats was a fool on two accounts from where Zod stood. The first account was creating the modified Shrieking Madness plague, for he did two things. He opened himself up to exposure from the humans and secondly, if he made a misstep he could have infected them all, including his fellow Kandorians.

But this next move, oh this one, it took the cake, to borrow a phrase from humans. He exposed himself to someone and got stabbed in the back, quite literally. Zod's face contorted into a grin, he could hardly believe his luck when he thought about it. He could claim ignorance about the entire thing not that there was anything to prove. It was not a plan he learned of until it was executed.

"So, the fool decided to unleash a plague unchecked into the city."

Zod turned and the man dressed in black stood in the doorway. There was a moment where Zod nodded towards him. He was a slimy example of humanity, with greasy black hair and sunken dark eyes that even made Zod distrust him completely.

"Yes, but we know one thing, there is another with blood that can help give us our powers back," Zod answered as he kept his eyes on this man. He was not the man one turned their back on.

Jor-El and Alura, they were still out there, and Zod needed to make sure that they were loyal to the cause before he made his next move.

"Remember our agreement," the greasy man stated.

"I must find her first," Zod answered, eyes still locked beadily on this poor excuse for a human. "Mr. Snape, you have done an adequate job with the modifications and I as always will keep my end of the bargain."

"That is acceptable," Snape stated in his most oily voice, looking forward to finally get the prize that he had been denied all of those years ago, when the Dark Lord killed her. Yet fate had given him another chance and he would claim what is his. "Potter is nothing but an arrogant brat."

Zod turned around and without warning grabbed Snape around the throat. Despite his lack of powers, Zod was in pretty good shape and had a pretty good grip. The Kandorian pressed his thumb to the side of Snape's neck, causing his eyes to bulge slightly. He squeezed the throat of Snape causing him to gasp and blood to flow from his mouth when Zod choked him down.

"You presume too much," Zod stated when he let go of the throat of Snape and that allowed the greasy wizard to drop to the ground like a piece of paper. He mentally noted how natural Snape looked on his knees before a superior. "You may leave."

Snape felt annoyance at being dismissed like a common school boy by this Zod but he would have to play along for a little bit longer. He waited almost twenty years, but Snape would have what he earned from his services. He edged back, massaging his throat.

Zod spun around before he saw one of his men, tall and black, staring at him. "Basqat, has our prisoner spoken yet?"

"Only some nonsense about Nargles," Basqat stated when he watched Zod. "Is that some kind of Earth code word or something?"

"She knows something about this Blur and who he truly is," Zod stated, his current working theory was that the Blur and Harry Potter were one in the same, although he was waiting for the right moment to visit the Shining Light Foundation.

He saw the offers for help and a few of his soldiers seemed inclined to answer them, a problem that he would have to deal with soon enough. Lest their loyalties shift away from him, that was something that could not be allowed to shift.

* * *

"So, I think that I should thank you for saving my life."

Tess offered that statement in the most direct, nonchalant manner when Harry turned up and checked up on her.

"I've run some scans, you're perfectly fine," Harry responded, the two locking eyes and smiling.

"That lines up with about how I feel, perfectly fine," Tess answered with a smile crossing her face when she threw her head back a little bit and sighed deeply. The young woman carefully took a moment to look at him. "How did you heal me?"

Harry wondered if he should say anything with how he healed Tess, but the most direct route to the answer often tended to be the truth. So that was the tact that Harry went with when he answered with a smile on his face. "It was my blood, it dripped into your wound and it cured you."

Tess raised an eyebrow, impressed by this but did not say much more of anything. "So did you know your blood could heal me?"

Harry once again opted to go for the truth, no matter how dangerous or how difficult it was to say. One could often say that honesty was the best policy and that was the policy that Harry was going to go for. The young wizard's face twisted into a smile when he looked Tess up and down.

"My blood is unique as it could either heal people or kill them slowly and painfully," Harry responded and at this response, she let out a whistle. "It depends if they're trustworthy enough."

"So I should be fortunate that your blood judged me to be worthy," Tess answered and Harry nodded.

"Pretty fortunate, yeah."

There was a long awkward pause where Harry and Tess watched each other, there had been some tension between the two of them. Granted, they worked together a little bit, but there was still some trust that needed to be built to them. Tess took a moment to consider Harry, sighing before she broke the ice with a simple question. It had been on the tip of her tongue and she had to say it.

"So any luck with your mother?"

This one caught Harry off balance for a second. "She's on the move."

"So is she running from someone or leading you on?" Tess asked, she got a few hints that there had been some problems between Harry and Lily in the past.

"Maybe both knowing her, she might have tried to play the wrong game with the wrong person," Harry stated when he watched Tess who smiled.

"You know, Lily is a valuable commodity to Zod, as are you, with your abilities," Tess stated when she dropped her voice, almost afraid that the room was bugged. "You gave…."

"Tess," Harry hissed through his teeth before he waved his hand and caused the anti-eavesdropping charms to be put up around the room. He turned towards her before he nodded his head and invited for her to continue. "Okay, you may continue."

Tess was a bit miffed but she understood. "You gave those three powers, if Zod connects the dots, you could be in for a problem."

Harry agreed but he had plans to deal with Zod should the time go right.

"I think that they need guidance from someone," Harry responded when he spun around and Tess smiled after him before he left.

"And that person is you?"

Harry did not say anything for a moment, but he took a moment to think about everything. Sure he thought that he might help them out, because Kara, Karen, and Harry all feared what would happen if they thought that Zod was their only option. The young mage ran into one huge problem and that was the fact they seemed to be a bit reluctant to step forward. The young wizard thought about that.

"I suppose they should have a second option, so they don't think that Zod is the be all and end all," Harry answered in an honest voice and Tess inclined her head with a nod.

"So maybe the two of us should get together sometime when we aren't getting killed," Tess added, when she amended hastily. "You know so the two of us can talk business."

Harry offered a knowing smile towards her. "Right, business."

The two of them knew what the other was talking about and Harry and Tess decided to part ways. Indy brushed past Harry, looking from him to Tess, with a slight smile crossing her face when she watched Harry leave, keeping her eyes slowly on him.

"Yes?" Tess asked and Indy turned her eyes towards Tess before she got straight down to business.

"Someone is trying to hack into the Luthorcorp Computers," Indy responded and there was a moment before Tess raised an eyebrow. "They did not get through the main firewalls but the fact that I could not trace them poses a problem."

"Yes it does, find a way to track them," Tess responded when she looked at the girl. Her hacking skills were out of this world, she even made that Chloe girl look like an amateur. So Tess had little doubt that she could trace this one.

"I have an inquiry," Indy stated and Tess turned towards her with a raised eyebrow, before inviting her to continue. "What is with the relationship between you and Harry Potter?"

"Professional," Tess answered curtly but Indy slowly processed that in her mind.

"Yet, you look at him like you hope for something more," Indy answered when she watched Tess.

"Miss Go, I expect you to do your job and not make inquiries about my personal life," Tess stated in a firm voice.

"Noted," Indy stated in a monotone when she nodded her head and moved off before turning around. "Logically speaking, he appears to be a prime example of manhood and therefore he would be an adequate partner in sexual…."

"Indy, track them before you lose the trail," Tess responded tensely and Indy answered with a nod, understanding that it was probable that she stepped beyond her required bounds.

"Noted," Indy repeated when she moved towards the computer and her eyes glowed a violet color when she prepared to see who was trying to get into the system that should not be.

Her mind processed every single bit at an insane rate, millions of little bits per second.

Tess stepped off, trying to piece together what her relationship with Harry Potter truly was. She grabbed the door knob and twisted it, bending it in her hand. She frowned, these door knobs weren't what they used to be or she did not know her own strength.

She shrugged and pushed the door open, busting the hinges.

* * *

Kara stood at the edge of the Fortress of Solitude, dressed in a white top, red jacket, and tight blue jeans that stretched around her body. She wanted to make sure that Clark went back to the Farm like he was supposed to and wasn't hiding out at the Fortress. Lana and Lois would return in a little bit from their hunting for the symbols. Harry followed Kara closely.

Kara stood, hands on hips, when she addressed the Fortress AI.

"Kal-El's training has ceased until he gets his head on straight," Kara declared to Jor-El.

"It is imperative…."

Kara pulled out one of the crystals which muted Jor-El and a second crystal that removed him from having the controlling focus in the Fortress. He was still there but he could merely observe.

"Finally, thank Rao" Lara breathed, but they did not really hear her. She did not know it was possible for an AI to get a headache until now.

"You need a time out," Kara responded crisply to Jor-El and she enjoyed the peace. "For the record, I know you're still here but the Fortress control has gone dormant for now. It's your fault that Clark acts the way he does now. But hopefully he'll improve. I hope."

Harry wrapped his arms around Kara, and she smiled mischievously, leaning forward towards his ear.

"Harry, I want you," Kara breathed in his ear, her hot breath hitting the tip of it.

Harry's eyes widened before he voiced the question, not sure he heard her correctly. He raised an eyebrow before he spoke to her slowly. "Here, in the Fortress?"

"Yes, Harry," Kara responded with a smile when she blew cold air on her chest, causing her erect nipples to stick out from behind her white shirt. "I want you to fuck me every single way possible in the Fortress, while Jor-El can't do a damn thing about it."

Kara grabbed Harry's crotch firmly with her hand, with a super strong squeeze, before she looked him in the eye.

"Think you're ready to do that, babe?" Kara asked to him, but Harry responded by wrapping his arms tightly around her and pushing his lips onto hers with a kiss so hot that it could have very well heated up the entire Artic.

Kara wrapped her legs around Harry, with Harry holding her in his arms, before he tipped her back on the block of ice, and kissed her hungrily once again, pressing his lips on the side of her neck, cupping her breasts carefully and causing her to moan.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon.**

Harry wrapped his arms around Kara as they basked in the afterglow of their sex.

"Amazing as always," Kara breathed and Harry kissed her on the lips which she hungrily returned. They conjured some clothes and flew back.

Lara sensed them leaving, she had to admit that their love making was quite prolific. It was more satisfying looking than anything she ever experienced. Conceiving Kal-El was quite the adventure, as getting Jor-El in the mood tended to cause her to exhibit a great deal of creativity.

Speaking of Jor-El, she thought they broke him.

And she wondered if it was possible for an AI to have a cold shower.

* * *

A dark haired girl with blue eyes dropped down outside of the Kent Farm. She wore a black jean jacket with a white blouse, and black leather pants. Despite everything it was good to finally find her way home.

Her name was Mia Kent, at least that's what her adoptive parents had given her. She was the last daughter of Krypton, sent to Earth by her parents Jor-El and Lara, and her birth name was Clara Jor-El. She crashed in a field and was found by Jonathan and Martha Kent, who raised her as their own daughter.

When she was fourteen years old, she saved the richest girl in town, Alexis Luthor, from driving her car over a bridge and from drowning. That started a friendship that turned into an obsession on Alexis to find her secret. Mia's memory was a blank but she remembered a flash of light and that was it.

She saw the Kent Farm still intact which was a relief. Then her eyes widened when she saw a weird young man entering the farm.

"What are you doing here?" she demanded, as she stared him down.

"What do you mean?" Clark asked when she turned around to stare him down. Clark was not in the mood to put up with this, after the day he had. "What are you doing here?"

"This is my house, you creepy douchebag!" Mia yelled at the top of her lungs before she grabbed Clark around the throat and threw him halfway across the field, causing him to crash in a crumpled heap. She flew into the air and grabbed Clark by the scruff of the neck. "And you're being evicted!"

Clark struggled against this girl, who was more powerful than he was.

Lana, Lois, and Raya turned up and saw Clark in trouble, again.

"Put him down!" Lana yelled when she saw Clark in the hands of this mystery girl, whoever she was.

Raya thought that she must be one of the Kandorians, and took steps to protect Clark from her, fearing that she might bring him to Zod. Although it struck her how much this mystery girl looked like Lara, only with dark hair.

And she looked like she was going to defend herself, no matter what.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter "Legend of the Doom Patrol Part One." **


	7. Chapter 7: Doom Patrol Part One

**Chapter Seven: Legend of the Doom Patrol Part One. **

Clara stared at these three mysterious females, very annoyed that they dared tell her what to do. Given some of the things that she was through, she had a chip on her shoulder the size of her powers. The dark haired girl watched them, before she looked down at this weird boy who was in a bad position and she smiled. It felt oddly good to get some form of therapy out of this, after what happened to her. The dark haired Kryptonian folded her arms, while she levitated this creep in the air with her telekinesis.

Then she dropped him into the water below, the dirty, polluted water with a splash.

"Why don't you get up here and make me princess?" Clara asked Lana in a mocking voice. She recognized this one as Lana Lang. They didn't have the best of relationship before.

Lana was confused, wondering what she ever did to this girl, but she was not going to let this comment go without a pass. She jumped into the air but Clara dodged her attack, causing Lana to fall on her face, because this girl was much more powerful than Clark and might have been more powerful than her.

"Let me," Lois responded, blowing super breath at Clara but Clara blew back. This kicked up a high gust of a wind that chilled the water that Clark was in.

"Lois!" Clark yelled in an indignant voice, as he shivered.

"Sorry, but I'm a tad too busy to worry about your personal comfort level, Smallville," Lois answered through gritted teeth plus she was seriously annoyed at the fact that Clark decided to pick up and abandon them for weeks and weeks.

A second Lois moved behind Clara, but she smiled.

"Nice trick," Clara responded and she closed her eyes, to split into three versions of herself. "Learned that one too."

Raya cleared her throat and the Lois and Clara clones circled each other. "Who are you anyway?"

"Raya, is that you?" Clara asked in a softened voice when she watched her, and pulled back. Lois stopped, wondering about the lack of hostile aggression from this young girl now. It was out of character for her.

Raya stopped and stared, this girl, whoever she was, recognized her. Then again, she did notice that there was a resemblance to Lara that looked rather uncanny. Only with dark black hair instead of blonde, but she did resemble a younger Lara in many ways. It was like looking through a mirror to the past.

"You know me?" Raya asked in a surprise.

"Of course, we fought for our lives in the Phantom Zone, I wouldn't forget something like that," Clara responded with a smile, but she held up the necklace with the house of El symbol on it.

Now Clark wondered what was going on, he wanted answers and when he pulled himself up, he was going to get them. He looked up in the air, where the four girls were flying. Lana and Lois were both annoyed but Raya conveyed some kind of silent order. Both stood down, but their arms folded and scowls crossed their faces.

"So who are you anyway?" Clark demanded.

Clara rolled her eyes, he was pretty demanding. Then again, Alex said that she could be pretty demanding at times. The dark haired Kryptonian looked down at him on the ground.

"Aren't you going to come up here and join us?" Clara asked as she watched Clark who remained on the ground. She wondered why he was on the ground and not able to fly. If he was Kryptonian, he should be able to fly.

Clark shuffled his feet, before he shrugged his shoulders. Raya decided to take pity on him by answering the question. "He can't fly."

"Really?" Clara asked, snickering at the fact that he couldn't pick up the most rudimentary Kryptonian power in the world. The dark haired girl waited for the answer.

"You still haven't answered who you are," Raya offered in a calm voice.

"My name is Clara Jor-El, but I guess I've had the secret identity of Mia Kent, but I don't often use it, given that my parents died in the second meteor shower," Clara answered and closed her eyes, it was because they were protecting Lana, thus that's why she had such a negative opinion of her, among a few other reasons.

"Wait, what is going on here?"

Lois Lane prided herself from being pretty quick on the uptake but to be honest, this little situation confused and also befuddled her just a little bit. The dark haired woman turned her head around and thought about the situation that presented itself. She wondered if she was losing her mind, just a little bit. It was highly possible after all.

"I was found in a field when my ship crashed by Jonathan and Martha Kent," Clara responded; the reaction on this guy's face was priceless.

Being dumbstruck did not adequately describe what Clark felt at this moment in time. He tried to mull over the situation in his mind.

"So what you're saying is…."

"She's a female version of Clark from an alternate universe."

The group spun around to see Harry standing on the ground, along with Kara and Karen. The group watched them arrive, seemingly out of nowhere.

Clara's eyes turned towards Harry, an awestruck and quite frankly dumbstruck expression appearing on her face. The green eyes, they were the same as a friend of hers back so. Alexandra Potter was her name or Alex as her friends called her. She was the Girl-Who-Lived and one of the Heralds of Death of that world, with Clara being the other. She sensed something similar to that aura with this young man.

"Kara," Clara breathed, as she rushed forward and threw her arms around Kara in a crushing and quite intimate hug. "I thought I'd never see you again."

"Um hi," Kara stated in a meek voice. "Although I'm not the Kara you knew."

"Brainiac killed you…well other you….I'm sorry," Clara breathed, she had gotten really close to her cousin, close in a way that many humans wouldn't understand, but that was beside the point.

Kara frowned; she could not believe that she was killed by Brainiac of all people.

"So, you're….technically my sister," Clark responded as he mulled over the matter in his mind and watched Clara with an appraising expression. "And you can fly."

"And you can't," Clara answered as she sighed, wondering what was wrong with guy her, but that was something that she would have to think about.

Clark frowned, the fact that he was unable to fly was a rather personal thing for him and he could not really figure out the reason why. Only because he was unable to and that bugged him a lot, especially given the fact that everyone around him was able to fly. His fear of heights was one thing but the Last Son of Krypton could not figure out why he had gotten the short end of the stick.

"So, I take it there's a reason why you're here," Lana answered as she watched Kara, Karen, and Harry. "Not that…."

"I know what you mean Lana," Harry responded with a bit of a smile crossing his face before he cleared his throat. "Kara has some important news to tell Clark."

Kara decided to get this out of the way straight away, a smile crossing her face when she said it. "Clark, your training at the Fortress has been suspended until you get your head on straight."

"My head is on straight," Clark protested but that caused Lois to roll her eyes.

"You could have fooled me."

Clark became extremely annoyed, did they not know what was on the line. Jor-El put him through the training so he could become a better hero, a hero that did not need people to protect him, to coddle him, to watch his every move. It was unfair to him and in Clark's mind, it was also unfair to Lana, Lois, and Raya to drag them down with him, because he was the weakest link. Clark didn't want to be weak any more.

Kara's expression remained steady and she eyed Clark. "You are not to return to the Fortress until I give you permission. Aunt Lara has agreed to lock down the Fortress for you and Jor-El….has complied as well."

'_Well you kind of forced that issue,' _Karen thought with an amused grin spreading over her face.

Clark was not going to let this go without a fight. "You can't…"

"Don't tell me what I can't and cannot do, Kal-El," Kara responded dangerously with her eyes flaring, hinting some heat vision to knock him back into line. She slowly turned to Lana. "Don't let him out of your sight. Even if you have the handcuff yourself to him, I don't want him leaving this farm."

Lana was taken aback by this sudden assertive expression that Kara gave her.

"Well, I'm sure we can handle that," Lois responded, a bit terrified at Kara. She was glad that she was on Kara's good side which Clark wasn't now. Being on the blonde's bad side was not a good place to be.

Clara smiled, her cousin was awesome as always and Rao only knew that her version of Kara had to knock her back into line. She missed her Kara and Alex as well. Lexi…not so much, even if their friendship was supposed to be the stuff of legend but that ended rather poorly.

"So who's up for breakfast?" Lois asked in a cheerful voice.

"Only if you're not cooking," Harry answered with a smile. "Chloe's warned me about you."

Lois crossed her arms, to the amusement of Karen, Kara, Raya, Lana, and Clara laughed, even if Clark scowled. He was very agitated about essentially being put under house arrest.

"As for you, Smallville, you and I are going to stick together," Lois responded when she grabbed Clark's hand with a tight grip and pulled him inside.

Clark looked very much like a small child being led to the dentist but this was being done for his own good.

* * *

Loud explosions echoed when a young man rushed forward. He had green skin and blue eyes, and he could turn into anything. His name was Garfield Logan but he was better known as Beast Boy, the youngest member of the Doom Patrol, the legendary team of heroes.

"You have outlived your usefulness Doom Patrol"

"Not quite," the man who was right behind Beast Boy stated, when there was a scream and a woman went down behind him, arms and legs wrapped together, her own elastic powers used against her.

"You will suffer the same fate as you always have, defeated and destroyed," the voice in the background stated in a creepy monotone.

"Beast Boy, move out of here, there's nothing you can do to save us!"

Beast Boy stopped, freezing, when he tried to figure out what he needed to do, his heart thumped against his chest. This was a rather tense situation that he was in and he could not help but think that it was one where the young hero was in over his head. Yet he refused to go down, the Brotherhood of Evil was one of the most feared groups of villains, they needed to be stopped.

"Mento, I'm not…."

Mento pushed him out of the way of a rocket launcher explosion when he fell down. "We all knew it was like this the day we signed up, we all knew that it could end like this. You need to find help, find heroes that will defeat them."

Garfield's eyes widened when he looked around and turned into a bird.

"Stop him."

His wings flapped as fast as he could go, he needed to get out of here. There was no turning back now, the young hero knew that escape was necessary if he wanted to win the day. His heart beat faster and faster when a pair of wings flapped harder and harder. Nearly out of range, in fact, pretty close to being out of range. Only a little bit more and he would be out of range of them.

"He can run but he cannot hide," the monotone stated, when a robotic roller moved it, surrounded by an aged army general, with liver spots and a monocle, brandishing a walking stick. A large gorilla in a beret stepped forward, surrounded by several robots. "You have all of the Doom Patrol, general."

"Except for the Beast Boy," the aged General stated when he crossed his arms. "Shall we…."

"Leave him for now, he can run but he cannot hide," the monotone repeated himself, to reveal that he was a talking brain in a robotic walker. His name was in fact the Brain and the lights on his walker glowed, slowly coming to life.

He had been fighting the Doom Patrol for years, to little success until now but they got weak and old. The youngest member of their team was the only one that posed a bit of a challenge, but that was a challenge that was easily dealt with. Plus his lack of maturity did not make him that dangerous of a threat no matter how powerful he was. Thirteen years of age, he was merely a child and merely one that they would crush.

"We must prepare for the second phase of our operation, our conquest which lies in the humble little farm community of Smallville," the Brain answered in his usual monotone. "The Blur has disrupted our operations one time too many. Therefore, we must take him out and make sure that he no longer poses a threat. His powers will be mine to command. He will be placed underneath my thumb"

No one dared mention the fact that the Brain did not technically have a thumb. The group was one that obeyed everything beyond all measure and perhaps all reason. The Brain had a pull over them and their loyalty should not be questioned. The Brotherhood would forever remain strong and they would forever continue to remain a power beyond all measure. That was something that could not be denied in any way whatsoever.

They would have the day.

"To Smallville for us to accomplish our goals," the Brain added in his creepiest monotone and his men mobilized for that happy moment.

* * *

Chloe bit down on her lip, few could envy the position that she had been put in regarding the group of heroes. They kind of broke out after the Doomsday incident and Chloe knew that with Zod and his army potentially becoming an issue, they kind of needed to get the band back together in case worse came to worse. The world needed as many protectors as they could have, and as many as the world could handle.

Then there was the fact that she was put in a situation that one might call a no win situation. The blonde bit down on her lip in an abject amount of frustration, she could really feel the pain and closed her eyes, before folding her arms together. She had put out the call for the remaining members of the team to come on by but two had only answered the call. Impulse and Cyborg, who were not exactly a motley crew to say very least.

"So, I guess you're trying to get this band together."

The Martian Manhunter turned up and Chloe felt relieved.

"So, I guess you're trying to give the hero thing a whirl," Chloe answered with a relieved expression on her face, closing her eyes when she thought about it but the Martian Manhunter offered her a slight smile.

"Not precisely but I feel that my connections on the Metropolis Police Department might be a huge help to this entire team," The Martian Manhunter responded as he watched her in amusement and the look of relief that crossed her face.

"All the help is needed, no matter what, believe me," Chloe responded and then she saw Arcane, Supergirl, and Power Girl pop up. "So you three are actually joining this, please tell me you're actually joining this."

"Chloe slow down, I know you got thrown in a stressful situation," Harry responded when he placed his hand on that of his wife's. She relaxed but only a slight bit.

"Stress, yeah, well I'm beyond stress, half of the team doesn't show up when I call them," Chloe answered when she watched everything. "I know Oliver's gone AWOL…."

"And Canary's doing her own thing," Cyborg responded when he turned around. "At least that's what the rumors are saying. And AC….well he's out ther.e"

"And Batman is….well he's Batman," Impulse responded as his eyes darted around from one side to another in an hap-hazard manner, before he slowed down, which was something that was tricky. "I'm not even sure if this thing is going to work and I thought that our Blur would show up."

Chloe paused for a moment before she stated the response. "The Blur is taking an extended sabbatical until he can get his head on straight."

Kara, Harry, and Karen knew all about that, and Lois, Lana, and Raya agreed to make sure Clark stayed put on the farm for the time being. Clara decided to stick around for a little bit until she figured out what she wanted to do in this strange world. It could be very humbling to go into a world which things were different yet similar. They all hoped that Clara could get her head on straight as well.

It seemed like there was something where Clara and Clark had much in common, they both were dealing with personal demons that threatened to destroy them. There was a moment where the three Heralds of Death wondered what would happen now and if everything would get back to normal.

Harry broke the silence that existed between them before he smiled towards Chloe, trying to be as reassuring as possible. "Chloe, we're going to take this one step at a time. You know the three of us have responsibilities, but we're going to help this thing out when we can."

"So how do I look?"

Diana popped up, wearing a red, white, and blue outfit that stretched around her body, with a silver headband and bracelets. Her bare legs were uncovered and displayed. Kara, Karen, and Harry all could not take their eyes off of her. She carried a lasso on her belt.

"Like a regular Wonder Woman," Chloe responded getting up and standing on a step stool so she could properly look Diana in the eye. "So does this mean…."

"The world needs heroes," Diana shrugged as she eyed the entire party and stood tall and proud, hoping that she did not look too outlandish. A smile crossed her face, even though the smile was kind of nervous. She tried to reign herself in to be a bit more assured of herself but when she did it, she would be able to accomplish much. "So, seriously, how do I look?"

Harry snaked his arm around her, before pulling her into a tight impress and kissing her lightly on the lips, an action which Diana hungrily returned. His arms wrapped around her, and hers around his, and the two kissed each other, wrapping their arms tightly around each other.

"Does that answer your question?" Harry asked as he pulled away from her and Diana smiled back at him. That did answer a lot about how she felt and the raven haired Amazonian could hardly wait to get out on the field. She could do a lot of work at the embassy in helping to bridge the gap between Man's World and Paradise Island, but…she could do so much more rewarding work here if she worked towards it.

There was a loud thump outside that distracted the entire team. A buzzing on the intercom was brought back to life and everyone spun around.

"Early warning system," Chloe answered as she eyed the group of heroes that were assembled. She hoped that it would work as well as she planned. She kept an ear firmly to the early warning system and a smile crossed her face when she heard it.

"Chloe, there's someone outside," Megan stated in an awed voice. "He passed out, I don't know…."

"I'll go and see, everyone stay here in case it's a trick," Harry responded but true to form, Kara and Karen followed him, with Diana edging a bit closer towards him. They were all Heralds united and they all rushed forward to see the cause of the disturbance.

"What do you think it is?"

It was Kara who asked the question and it was Karen who answered the question, a frown spreading over her face. She watched the situation and grimaced, she had no idea what it could. "I don't know but whoever it is, he took a thumping."

Kara saw the young man lying down on the floor, he was a teenager, in fact he was barely older than Claire. He tried to shake off the cobwebs before getting to his feet and edged himself to a standing position.

Karen lacked a certain amount of tact and she watched the young man struggle, before grabbing him firmly and pulling him up to his feet. The young man twitched slightly, he knew that the situation he was in was not the most ideal in the world. It was hard to concentration and focus. His knees knocked together when the young man breathed heavily and looked up at them all.

"You have two minutes to explain why you tried to break into our base," Karen responded as she eyed the green skinned youth with a threatening gaze.

"Karen, I'll handle this," Kara responded, deciding to play the "good cop" in this situation. "So what are you doing here?"

Beast Boy might be the youngest member of the Doom Patrol but he understood that he was in a situation that he had to answer the questions and answer them quickly. "Um…yeah….listen."

"Please take a deep breath, I don't know how much longer I can hold back my sister wife," Kara responded as Karen cracked her knuckles and smiled, playing the bad cop.

Beast Boy threw his hands up before he spat out the statement, his head waving around frantically. "Okay, okay, chill alright."

"We are chilled," Karen stated in her most dangerous voice, she never liked people playing the vague game with her. In fact, it drove her kind of nuts.

Harry frowned, he thought that there was a reason why he was here and spotting the patch on his jacket, Harry recognized why. A smile crossed his face before he stared down at Beast Boy.

"So you're with the Doom Patrol?" Harry asked the young and Beast Boy's eyes widened.

"Yeah, I'm with the Doom Patrol or at least I was but I don't know….they got jumped," Beast Boy responded with a widened set of eyes when he widened his eyes at them and Harry took a moment to invite him inside. "It was the Brotherhood of Evil….seriously bad news."

"Well they kind of advertise it with their name," Karen responded with a dry voice but never the less, Kara, Karen, Harry, and Diana led Beast Boy inside.

Diana was beginning to see that their days were getting to be extremely exciting for many reasons and could not wait for what was going to happen next. Now, the three Heralds led Beast Boy inside when the Amazon princess mulled over the events of today in her mind, things were going to heat up and perhaps get very interesting when the time passed. She could hardly wait.

"So another adventure," Diana responded to Harry in a low voice.

Harry paused before he answered her question. "Or a conspiracy."

That caught Diana's attention and she would have to wait for Harry to clarify what he meant by that statement.

* * *

Beast Boy sat down, to tell them the entire mission as he remembered it.

"It started out so simply too," Beast Boy told them as he folded his arms and threw his head back, sighing in deep thought. Chloe nodded before she offered a tense expression.

"These missions always do but you blundered into a trap," Chloe answered when she turned towards him but Beast Boy furiously shook his head.

"I don't think that I was the one that blundered into the trap, well not really," Beast Boy responded with a shrug when he watched the woman who carefully surveyed him. "The problem is my entire team was lead there by the Brain."

Karen raised her eyebrow in a skeptical manner but it was Impulse who responded with the obvious answer. "The Brain? So is Pinky involved or not?"

"Bart," Chloe responded in a reproachful voice and Impulse tensed up with Garfield shaking his head.

"No he's some scientist, he fought the Doom Patrol for years and he used his brain to power this robotic walker, he has some gorilla….they're way too close, the rumor is….well the rumor is that they were really close when he was a human," Beast Boy responded with a pained expression on his face.

That was among the images the group did not really need to even consider, and the entire group grimaced, all of their minds slipping into the gutter.

"Yeah I'm all for full disclosure but that falls into the category of way too much information," Chloe answered when she bit down on her lip with a grimace and then she caught her breath, before she grew suddenly seriously. "So do you have any idea where any of their bases were located?"

Garfield pondered that question carefully, Mento did not really share all that much information with him to be honest. It was frustrating to be left out of the loop so much, especially considering that information could be the lifeblood to save the team and hopefully lead them to a point where they would not be destroyed by the Brain and his goons.

"Take your time," Victor responded in a calm voice. "But if there is anything that can help us rescue your team at all, we need to know now."

Garfield looked up at the team. "We're….we're more than just a team, we're a family. And a rather dysfunctional one at that but hey, we pull for each other and that's what a team is all about."

Chloe smiled as did Harry, Kara, and Karen.

'_That is the kind of spirit we need with our little squad,' _Kara thought to Chloe.

Chloe paused before she nodded. _'Yeah about that, it's kind of a work in progress with us.'_

"I know and we sense your discomfort," The Martian Manhunter responded with a kind smile towards Beast Boy. J'onn understood what it was like to lose family; he lost everyone he knew he loved, friends, family, and associates with the destruction of Mars. He might have found a new one here on Earth but that sense of loss was not something that is easy to get away from any time soon.

Garfield wished he could come up with something, he felt on the borderline of useless by not being able to formulate even one word for this team. His heart beat steadily when he felt his annoyance bubble to the surface before, shaking his head.

It was fortunate for Beast Boy that someone managed to step up and say something, that would save him from having to respond any time soon. The gruff voice and brooding demeanor could not be mistaken.

"I believe I have uncovered information that may be able to help us find the Doom Patrol."

Impulse turned around and saw Batman brooding as usual, his eyebrows raised and his heart leapt out of his chest. "Dude, you could give a guy a heart attack that way."

Batman said nothing but he remained quite stoic in his expression, crossing his arms a little bit and watching the speedster through narrowed eyes behind his cowl. He did not say any word, did not even blink but his presence was felt by all around them. The World's Greatest Detective was about ready to speak as only he could.

"This information was intercepted on a transmission," Batman state, getting straight to the point.

Chloe was stricken by morbid curiosity. "And how did we….."

"I have my ways," Batman responded when he clicked the transmission on and began to play it.

"We have the first stage of our plan. Whilst the one known as Beast Boy escaped, we still have the one in Smallville. Our benefactors wish us to abduct the one known as the Blur and we will track him to our latest location. We will succeed where others have failed."

The group turned to each other, there was no mistake about it now, things were about to get more intense and insane.

"I think it's time to mobilize," Chloe responded when she looked over her shoulder towards Harry, when he stood there. "I hope I wasn't…."

"No, you're doing all of the right things," Harry answered to her with a smile. "I'll let you know when you've fucked up."

Chloe thought there was no more of a blunt assessment than what Harry and prepared to get their group together. They likely needed training and a whole lot of practice working together but they would do for now.

* * *

Clara closed her eyes, she thought about everything that happened today and had to smile a little bit. It was clear that she was not in Kansas anymore; well she was not in her Kansas anymore anyway. The Girl of Steel did not know where she fell in this world but if there was one thing that Clara learned, was that things happened for a reason. Although it was lost to her precisely what that reason was going to be. She would find out all too soon. The dark haired Kryptonian crossed her eyes and signed.

'_One step at a time, I guess,' _Clara thought to herself, a frown crossing her face before she heard a rattling sound outside. Then there was the sound of helicopters.

She supposed that she could not be in this universe for more than one day without something happening. The black haired girl was curious and also suspicious, very much so. Moving forward, she kept herself towards the wall and edged forward, with a thump, thump, thump of her heart against a set of ribs. She clutched her fists and carefully edged forward.

"Raya, Lois," Clara whispered when she closed eye eyes before she let out an exasperated sigh. "Um Clark, Lana?"

There were no sounds and Clara stepped over their fallen bodies, before dropping down next to Lois and tried to shake her awake.

"Can someone get the number of the train that just hit me?" Lois slurred after Clara shook her awake.

"I don't know but….yeah wake up," Clara responded as she bit down on her lip, rolling the dark haired woman over. "I don't know what happened."

"Evil Microsoft Sam on wheels, a talking gorilla, Colonel Klink, and their army just attacked us," Lois answered when she held her head, remembering everything, the shock grenades, the whips, the guns, and half of the Kent Farm almost caving in on the back of their heads. "And I wish that was a punch line to a really bad joke."

Lois tried to remember the one vital detail but Lana grumbled, getting to her feet. Despite the past differences, she didn't want anyone to get injured.

"Clark's gone," Lana responded a pained tone, her feet dragging in front of her. She coughed a little bit of blood but thankfully her powers healed her.

"And don't look now but Raya is as well," Lois stated when they felt a buzzing in their ears.

'_You can find Clark, you have the power,' _Harry thought to both of them.

"Ugh, I must have hit my head harder than I thought because I hear Harry Potter in my head," Lois responded when she rubbed her temples.

'_That's because you did hear me,' _Harry stated to them and before they could ask the question, he explained it. _'If I ever needed to get in contact with you with information you might need to protect Clark, I left a backdoor in. I figure this way the information cannot be intercepted.'_

Lois smiled, there was no more secure location than the person's own mind or at least that's what she thought. The dark haired woman crossed her arms. _'So what…'_

'_We know Clark's been abducted, and….yeah I know, we were supposed to protect him,' _Lana thought in a deflated tone.

'_I think the Brotherhood are working with someone,' _Harry thought to them.

'_The Brotherhood?' _Lois asked in confusion and it turned out Harry was only more than happy to clarify.

'_They are the arch-enemies of the Doom Patrol, a team of super heroes, Bart's bringing you the information that Batman intercepted, right about now,' _Harry responded to them.

Sure enough, Bart showed up, trafficking the information and he struck a pose. "Special delivery."

Lois took it with a nod but Bart could not resist. "Don't I get a tip?"

She smiled at him. "Yeah here's one, get a better haircut."

With that quip out of the way, Lois and Lana got down to business, looking over the papers.

'_We can track him,' _Lana thought when she rubbed her temples. _"Providing he isn't being stubborn and trying to block us out because he doesn't want us to help.'_

'_Then you're going to have to be more stubborn,' _Harry thought to them and Lois and Lana got the message loud and clear, they both knew what they needed to do.

'_I can do that,' _Lois thought cheerfully and he looked up. _'And our other Kryptonian is gone. Like brother like sister, I guess.'_

'_Don't worry about that,' _Harry responded to them mentally as he stepped back to leave the link free and clear for Lois and Lana to focus and find Clark.

* * *

Clark's eyes flickered open when he hung in chains and he tried to lift his wrist but the red sunlight bathed him.

"Welcome Kal-El, I hope you are comfortable but even if you aren't, you won't be staying long. Your body will be perfect new vessel for my superior mind. With your powers and strength and my mind, I will be unstoppable."

**To Be Continued in Part Two. **


	8. Chapter 8: Doom Patrol Part Two

_So Clark's harem(for those of you who care)….will be getting an expansion soon. Here are the girls that will be in his harem:_

_Raya, Lois, Lana (well you already knew about those three, didn't you?) , Alicia, Luna, and Hermione. Funny story about that last one….actually it's not funny, but maybe I'll tell you it sometime. Plus it keeps an even ratio of "LL" girls versus non "LL" girls. :)_

_Harry's harem…well I'm not feeling certain girls that are planned. And I can't really be forced to care. See the poll in the profile. _

_Claire's harem….well she doesn't have a harem yet on the account of being twelve years old. Check back again in a few years. _

**Chapter Eight: Legend of the Doom Patrol Part Two. **

Clara folded her arms when she flew like a cork in the air, carefully edging closer to closer to the destination where Clark was at. The dark haired Kryptonian worked closer and closer to the location. Her ability to track was heightened although it still needed some fine tuning. Naturally that was one of the gifts of the Herald of Death and whilst Alex did her best to train Clara in it, she did not grasp it as well as her green eyed friend did.

'_Okay, Kal-El, where are you?' _Clara thought as she moved forward, but Lois and Lana showed up.

"Clara? There you are?" Lois asked as she looked at the dark haired girl who frowned.

"What are you doing?" Lana asked as she watched Clara.

Clara's eyes rolled and her noses wrinkled, wondering if powers made these two dense. "Well let's see, I'm in the air, going in the same direction that Kal-El is going, so obviously I'm trying out for the ballet!

Lois shook her head, and Lana frowned, wondering about her attitude.

"Okay, we're looking for Clark and Raya, we're not quite sure if she went on ahead or got captured as well or is somewhere out there, she's….well if it was a split decision of her going after Clark or staying with us, I understand," Lana answered, nearly tripping over her words when she spoke. To be honest she was both flustered and extremely frustrated. Her flight was off and she nearly crashed a few times but somehow, someway managed to stay the course. The dark haired girl kept her eyes on the prize, edging around carefully.

"Just calm down, we'll figure it out," Lois offered in a pacifying voice.

Of course, Lois could do with taking some of her own advice because she was anything but calm. The dark haired woman spun to look for the Kryptonian girl but Clara already went away.

'_She's nearly as impulsive as Clark,' _Lois thought in frustration.

'_Nearly?' _Lana asked with a roll of her eyes. _'Plus you forgot, technically she is Clark, only a female.'_

'_I didn't forget,' _Lois offered Lana as she shrugged her shoulder but spotted Raya down on the ground before her. The women dropped down beside them and Raya turned, an apologetic expression in her eyes.

"I should have stayed behind but…."

Lana shook her head. "No, you had an opportunity to go after Clark and protect him. That's exactly what any of us would have done."

"Yeah that's right, don't beat yourself up, Raya," Lois answered but she focused her hearing, before closing her eyes and split in half, sending one of her dupes to scout ahead.

"Do you have any idea what they want with Clark?" Lana asked, fretfully folding her arms before she threw her head back. It would be unwise to rush in there without knowing all of what they had to go against. Whilst they had a pretty good idea, there were problems regarding the holes that they had.

Raya answered. "I think that leader wants to cut out his brain and replace it with his."

"How very B movie of him," Lois stated whilst rolling back and waited for Lois to report back to them. She thought of that statement in her head and smiled, it was very easy to get caught in an infinite loop when thinking about that. The dark haired woman inclined her head back ever so slightly and waited.

Raya thought that this was a very serious situation although she learned by now that Lois cracked wise as a coping mechanism but this was an extremely serious, not to mention extremely stressful situation. She knew of what was on the line and was determined to bring Kal-El home in one piece, and hopefully keep him there this time. Although they might want to think of upping security on the farm.

"The coast is clear Lois," the dupe responded as she edged forward.

"Well thanks, Lois," Lois responded to the dupe.

"Any time Lois," the duplicate stated. "You are the greatest Lois."

"No, you are the greatest Lois," the original copy responded before they exchanged a hi-five and absorbed back into each other with a flash of light.

Lana blinked but she had no time to comment on that bit of oddness, because the Calvary was in fact coming, she saw Arcane, Supergirl, and Power Girl, at least a glimpse of them. The Martian Manhunter edged around to the side and slipped in an exit that she did not even notice. Impulse and Cyborg were there, along with some green skinned boy that Lana did not recognize.

"Guess we're all mobilizing around the place," Lana whispered to Lois but Lois shook her head.

"Which means they have an army in there, but it's well hidden," Lois responded wisely when she crossed her arms. "War 101, don't make your enemy see what you see."

Raya found the entrance on the top of the roof. Granted, it was an inconvenience but it would allow them to enter the base easily. Lois and Lana slipped in after Raya and the three edged down the hallway.

'_If I'm not mistaken, Kal-El shall be in the next room,' _Raya informed them mentally.

'_And if you are mistaken?' _Lana asked, when she bit down on her lip in trepidation.

'_Well….we'll keep looking for him until we find him,' _Raya thought to them, clutching her arms to her side and they heard the clatter of glass on the other side of the door. The trio entered but they found themselves at the business end of several dangerous looking weapons.

"What are you doing here?" the lead guard stated but Lois stared down the gun.

"Girl scouts, obviously," Lois stated and Lana turned to Raya and mouthed "girl scouts" in a questioning manner but Raya simply shrugged, wondering what Lois was on.

The guns were pointed on the three girls but Lois frowned.

"Not a fan of cookies?" Lois asked as she narrowed her eyes. "What are you, a Commie?"

"So what if I am?" one of the guards responded, narrowing his eyes.

"Well at least you have conviction," Lois answered, before she punched him in the face. "And a few broken teeth to go along with that conviction."

The men dropped down to the ground with a thump, thump, thump, colliding with the pavement carefully, and quite painfully as well.

Down the hallway, Harry, Kara, and Karen edged inside, going in through a different way. Cyborg, Impulse, and the Martian Manhunter were setting up a distraction while Beast Boy went in another way, they were all split up.

They found themselves on the business end of several guns where the armed guards eyed them.

"What are you doing here?" the guard demanded and Harry said the first thing that came to his mind, no matter how random.

"Girl scouts!"

Kara's eyes widened before she turned to Karen and mouthed the words "girl scouts" who shrugged in response and the guards looked completely dubious at this claim as well.

"You are the ugliest looking girl scout I ever did see."

Harry frowned.

"Well that was rude," Harry remarked in a calm voice, when he sent the guards flying back. Kara and Karen copied his movements and despite their advanced weapons, they were no match from the three Heralds of Death.

'_So is Clark….he's down a level isn't he?' _Kara thought to them all.

'_Yeah, I about as figured as much,' _Karen responded when she crossed her arms and there were the sounds of combat.

'_I guess we….I guess we weren't the only ones that found a way in,' _Karen thought to them and Harry smiled.

'_I should hope they found a way in,' _Harry thought to them and there was a loud crash that punctuated them. _'Some of those shots are dangerous and lethal."_

"_Good thing we're invulnerable,' _Kara bantered as she and Harry teamed up to knock them down. _'Must not be a big fan of cookies.'_

'_Bunch of commies,' _Harry thought shaking his head, before sending them down a flight of stairs with a huge collision and the shattering of many bones.

Meanwhile, Lana, Raya, and Lois were against their enemies, but a sonic pulse assaulted their super hearing. This caused the group to stagger for a moment.

"Not going as well as we hoped," Lana grunted trying to shut down the pain of the sonic drill going into her ear and staggering a slight bit but despite the staggering, she remained standing steady.

There was a whoosh over her head before she could consider the pain going through her mind all that much. The arrival of Clara indicated that she was prepared for this. The machine exploded with a heavy blast of energy from her hands, causing it to burn out. Then she used ice breath to freeze her enemies and cause them to topple over.

Lois winced slightly when they fell out of the open window and shattered into pieces, still frozen from below.

'_Well there's another difference between girl Clark and the guy model,' _Lois mused, seeing Clara look at them.

"Don't sit there, we got to find him he's…."

"One level below."

Harry, Kara, and Karen popped up and there was no question about this, they had to move it and move it rather soon. The trio edged themselves down the tunnel, their hearts beating heavily, with Lana, Lois, and Raya following, closely as they are able to.

* * *

"Your struggle is pointless and the endeavor to try to escape is fruitless, so why even struggle."

Clark tried to push himself up and his eyes narrowed, when the Brain was hooked up by his men.

"Soon I will have a mighty body to match my superior mind," the Brain continued in his creepy monotone.

"All talk and no action, same as usual I see."

"The Transference process cannot be rushed, it must be done to the letter," the Brain dead panned, not even bothering to quantify but one of his alarms were triggered. "Take care of the do-gooders that are trying to save him immediately. I must not have any snag in the operations."

Clark was going to do what he could to snag the operations, twisting his shoulder, and trying to push himself out of the position but his eyes blinked slightly and his breathing as usual.

"You will be silent Doom Patrol, for I have defeated you and now you will witness your annihilation in the body of this beacon of light," the Brain droned on and one, carefully watching every single instant of their attempts to make some kind of counterattack and then there was Clark's attempts to escape as well. "This is futile."

"You are futile," Clark retorted in a strangled voice.

"Your comeback lacks any kind of conviction and showcases how weak you are mentally and physically but I will correct those weaknesses with my ample and superior mind," the Brain droned even more in a flat emotionless tone of voice.

Clark tried to focus his powers but he had none.

He needed protectors.

Because he couldn't do anything on his own.

He was weak.

No he refused to be weak, he saved them all.

So what if their powers were stronger than he was?

Clark was not going to take this lying down, not at all and he twisted his arm. He closed his eyes when he felt his mind hooked up to the machine.

Before he could form a counter attack, a beam of heat vision shot out and sliced the wires of the machine and caused the Brain to scream out loud.

"No this cannot be, figure out the problem and eradicate it!" The Brain responded and the gorilla stepped forward, ready to serve its master in any way it could. "Mallah, take them down…."

Power Girl flew forward and with ballistic fury, punched Mallah in the face. The gorilla landed with a crunch on the ground. The short haired blonde stood with a triumphant smile.

"You enjoyed that too much," Supergirl remarked with a smile on her face.

"I can check punching out a talking gorilla off my bucket list," Power Girl answered with a shrug, but half of the troops were thrown off by the cleavage window in her costume. This allowed Power Girl to kick them in the face, hard and fast while they were distracted.

'_Well it's not my fault they can't stay focused,' _Power Girl thought as she saw Arcane move through the shadows, taking them out one at a time, with swift kicks.

Several armored thugs edged forward but Wonder Woman popped in into the position, before sending her enemies down. She dodged, using her training with the Amazons to knock them all back with a clatter. They all fell back with a crash and the Amazon princess closed her eyes, waiting what happened around them. The dark haired Amazon edged forward.

"He has quite the army," Wonder Woman responded but it was Lois who bounced forward like a ping pong ball off of the walls and slammed into the one of the enemies.

"Good we have one too," Lois remarked, dropping down onto her feet and a grin spread over her face. "Okay, who wants some more?"

No one was willing to take her up on the offer and the Martian Manhunter offered his contribution, dragging his adversaries against the ground.

Beast Boy, Cyborg, and Impulse saw the escape pods on the other side.

"You should be able to get inside there," Chloe relayed to them. "Just disable the emergencies protocols with the information that I sent you."

Cyborg nodded. "Piece of cake."

Cyborg prepared to deactivate the emergency protocols, to free the members of the Doom Patrol one at a time. Mento, Negative Man, Elasti-Girl, and Robotman were all trapped. He tried to shift through the protocols one at a time.

"Never mind us," Mento breathed when he felt the oxygen get lighter with each passing moment and he turned to the heroes on the outside. "If you let us out, the device will activate."

Chloe piped in through the communication device, a strangled voice. "What device?"

"It is a device that will wipe out a quarter of the United States and cause severe ecological damage to the rest of it, along with tearing a rift in time and space," Mento explained before Elasti-Girl stepped in.

"It was the ultimate sadistic choice, the Brain wanted to make sure that our survival was doomed either way but if someone tried to save us…."

"So we just find this device and deactivate it," Cyborg responded, keeping his temper even.

Mento nodded, not bothering to let them in on the fact that once the device was deactivated, there would be a pulse that would destroy them.

"There's got to be a way to…."

Beast Boy's frantic attempts to pipe up were cut off with Mento with a rough tone of voice.

"Don't worry about us, deactivate the doomsday device and all will be fine."

Cyborg frowned when he tried to isolate anything connected to the chamber.

"All is lost you won't…."

Harry, Karen, and Kara combined their super breath and freeze breath to freeze the Brain. The Brain shivered but he was encased in a block of ice in no time.

"Master," Mallah asked, clutching the Brain but he was put on ice, quite literally.

'_Any luck,' _Harry projected through the bond to Chloe.

Chloe bit down on her lip and said nothing, at least for the moment. _'I wish I could give you some positive information but now….no such luck.'_

Harry feared this and hoped that everything would work out of the best, even though he suspended that things were about to work out for the worst. The wizard clutched his hands together and inclined his head a bit, to prep himself mentally for the worst, the very worst.

'_I think I got something but….' _Chloe thought as she paused and the awful news she got smacked her in the face. _'I don't….I don't know what to say, if we deactivate this Doomsday Device, the Doom Patrol dies in the pod.'_

'_I take it that's only the tip of the iceberg with the bad news,' _Harry thought through the link.

'_Yeah, you better believe it, if we don't deactivate it within two minutes, it goes off,' _Chloe thought to them, closing her eyes.

'_Wonderful,' _Harry thought to Chloe, trying to scan it but this device was hooked up to it.

'_So really, what do you want me to do?' _Chloe thought to him over the communication link.

'_I'd….this is one of those no win situations,' _Harry responded as he closed his eyes. There was no other choice and he might not be able to forgive himself but the lives of many outweighed the lives of a few. _'Disable the doomsday device.'_

'_And you realize…' _Chloe thought to him but Harry cut her off.

'_I do realize that, believe me, I realize that but we have no choice,' _Harry fired back, wishing that there could be other ways to get through but to be honest; the Doomsday device backed them into a corner. _'Four lives versus millions, I hate to say it but…."_

'_Justfiable sacrifice,' _Kara thought, not liking this any more than Harry did and she knew sometimes the good of a few could not outweigh the good of the many. _'Are you sure….'_

'_If there was I would do it in a heartbeat plus look at their lifeline readings,' _Harry thought as she watched them.

'_We….do it, Chloe give Cyborg the disarming codes,' _Kara thought, standing next to Harry.

'_O-okay,' _Chloe thought to Harry carefully and moved over to relay it.

"No matter what, Garfield, I know you're do the legacy of the Doom Patrol proud."

Garfield Logan realized what happened and he was going to lose more family, having lost his family at such a younger age. He held his hand up but Cyborg saw what was going to happen, when he saw the final line of code entered.

"Are you sure this is it?" Cyborg asked.

"Thirty seconds, kind of in the pressure cooker," Chloe responded as her voice trembled, only a slight bit and the final command line was delivered, with a press of a bottom.

The blinding flash of light erupted, and the Doomsday Device was shut down, that was a good thing. The bad thing was the fate of the Doom Patrol, who were caught in the light. Garfield widened his eyes as they vaporized in an instant.

Time stopped as there was nothing left of the Doom Patrol, not even a drop of blood.

Clark's eyes widened before he turned towards Harry. "You sacrificed them…."

"To save millions of lives," Harry answered as he turned around, he felt bad about he had to do."

"There has to be another way," Clark agued as he could not believe that four people had to die and Harry did nothing about it.

"There wasn't, Harry tried," Kara answered, now was not the time for her cousin to be self-righteous and her eyes snapped towards him, a warning expression dancing in them.

Clark folded his arms and stared down his cousin. "There's always another way."

Lana was the one that stepped in. "There isn't."

Garfield hung his head in shame, before he turned, no words.

Harry wished that there was another way but at the same time, he could not save anyone.

"I suppose it was done for the greater good," Clark responded but this caused Harry's eyes to flare dangerously and he blasted Clark through the wall.

"DON'T EVER SPEAK THOSE WORDS TO ME!"

Harry flew up, with Karen and Kara following behind him, and Lois stepped over, looking down at Clark.

"You really shoved your foot into your mouth this time, didn't you Smallville?" Lois asked but Clark turned around, not even acknowledging that critique.

He thought that there was another way.

"IDIOT!"

Clara smacked Clark across the back of the head with full fore and caused him to land down. If Harry was anything like Alex, she knew how much those words cut into his heart.

Clark was down on the ground with a bloodied nose, confused with what he did wrong. Lois grabbed Clark by the ear and dragged him back to the farm. Lana and Raya followed.

* * *

"Mento always told me that something like this would happen but….I guess I didn't want to believe in," Garfield responded in a despondent voice when he sat down with Chloe and Cyborg, with Claire sitting on the chair next to them.

"Harry would have done everything that he could to save them, if he could," Chloe responded in a quiet and reassuring voice.

"And if it meant the deaths of everyone in range, they would have died regardless," Garfield answered, coming to the unfortunate realization.

It was a rather frustrating situation to be in but he learned that being part of a super hero team since a young age, coping with loss was something that was only secondary. He stepped outside but Chloe called him back.

"You know if you need a place there's plenty of room at the Shining Light Foundation," Chloe responded, feeling that she was not overstepping her bounds.

Garfield wondered about the situation, he understood what Arcane and Supergirl had to do, even if it did not like it all much. He was pretty much in a funk, his eyes closed shut a little bit when he edged forward, feeling the frigid sensation going through his body. After what happened, he knew what to do.

"I think that I'll be okay," Garfield responded as he placed his hands on his chin.

"Well people are always welcomed here," Claire remarked, before going back to her chat. She only barely understood what happened but understood enough that her parents weren't too happy about it.

Garfield understood that and things might be awkward.

Diana slipped in. "So this hero thing…relatively new but at least I had the training down pat."

"That's a good thing," Chloe remarked when she turned around, keeping a careful watch on everything that happened. "Our hero club isn't the best in the world. Of course Batman's so good; we didn't even know he was there."

"I thought I saw some people mysteriously on the ground," Diana remarked and Harry turned up, walking towards them.

"What if he was right?" Harry asked as he turned around.

"I beg your pardon?" Chloe answered as her eyes towards Harry.

"Clark betrayed me in the future…."

"We don't know that for sure, remember that," Chloe answered, although there were many jigsaw pieces that they could not piece together. She did hope to answer everything in due time or at least to the extent where they would be able to get something done.

"We don't know but it's probable," Harry answered in a crisp voice, edging himself off to the side a little bit.

"The Doom Patrol wouldn't hold it against you," Chloe answered as she wrapped her arms around him and pulled herself up to face him. "Clark's…"

'_Being a pill, again,' _Kara thought.

'_Douchebag of the year is more accurate,' _Karen thought as she folded her arms.

'_That about sums it up,' _Kara thought in anger.

"He's acting like he doesn't understand the true measure of doing what needs to be done to save the day."

Clara responded this when she showed up. They turned, to question her sudden arrival but the dark haired girl shrugged. "I didn't want to stick around to see what those four get into during their private time. I prefer to not have nightmares."

Chloe thought about it and that was likely prudent for the best. "So you have some powers that Clark doesn't have…."

"Are we talking about the flight thing?" Clara asked as she turned away evasively.

"Well we're talking about other things," Harry remarked when he turned towards the girl and held up the symbol which caused her eye to twitch but the dark haired Kryptonian relaxed rather quickly. "Does this symbol mean anything to you?"

Clara flushed a little bit, that symbol meant a lot to her, it was the symbol of the Deathly Hallows, the part of the Herald of Death but she closed her eyes and refused to acknowledge it.

"It's nothing."

It was a lie, and Harry, Diana, Chloe, and even Claire all knew it but none of them said anything.

'_She's like us, I can sense it,' _Karen thought through the mental link.

'_Maybe she's hoping that since she's been booted her, her responsibilities are done,' _Harry thought to them.

'_Please, you know how they are, all of the services are forever and a day,' _Kara thought but there was no more thoughts other than that.

Clara turned around once again, she would have wanted to be part of this but after what happened the last time, she would not.

"So where are you going?" Chloe asked.

"I'll be around," Clara answered when she flew out the window, with Harry watching after her.

'_She's fighting it, that isn't going to end well for her,' _Harry thought as they thought.

"Not to add even more on top of your overly heavily workload but these images came in today off of the satellites," Chloe offered before she clicked everything through the images.

"What now?" Harry asked in trepidation and Diana watched when they saw everything down.

"Clark might not be the only one that would have a female doppleganger roaming around," Chloe remarked when she clicked through everything. Diana stood beside Harry, both of them carefully watching everything.

She stood at the edge of a village, dark hair like Harry but the same green eyes. Harry had to admit, he did make a very attractive female all things considered. Not that he spent that much time thinking about such a thing before but now that it was staring back at him, he had to admit that.

"So another person to track down along with the Kandorians, my mother, and Sinclair," Harry responded, and not to mention the Undesirables that still lingered out there.

The Kandorians had gone underground although Tess and Harry had a meeting with the RAO corporation representatives a week from Thursday. That would give Harry a chance to see where they stood.

The next move would be a calculated one and Harry knew that with all of the chess pieces on the table, there could be a tornado coming that disrupted them all. Although there was no clue what that storm might be.

Clark dropping the Greater Good bomb did not endear himself to Harry. All of the trouble that those words or some variation of them had caused Harry caused him to be frustrated.

* * *

The eyes of the Brain flickered open when he tried to twist himself back to life. There were a few moments before he brought himself back to life when he was in a room surrounded by bright lights as far as the eyes could see, there were shadowed figures in the background.

"You've failed."

"Where am I?"

"That is not a matter for you to discuss or ask about, nothing gives you the right to make that inquiry."

"I have every right to make that inquiry," the Brain argued, not pleased with what occurred around him and he struggled to free himself but there was no use.

"You are incased in a field that you won't be escaping any time soon."

"I am the foremost mind of my time or any other, you will find that I am quite resourceful," The Brain answered in his usual robotic monotone.

"Your mind is great but the rest of you is insufferable," the voice echoed off to the side, causing more bright to pour in and keep him immobilized. "But you will be a valuable tool for us all. Your organization is not going to save you, they've been dealt with."

The Brain calculated the probabilities of the situation in his mind, it proved to be one that he was not about to escape any time soon. Despite his attempts to shift through the field, the field remained encased around his form.

"You failed to get the probable DNA samples from the Blur and equipment was sacrificed, all in your vendetta to take down the Doom Patrol. There is a war coming and your vendetta won't change that fact."

There was no response, the Brain figured that there were circumstances where no matter what, escape was going to be an issue. Despite every instant of him trying to push his way out and use his energy fields to bust through, it was going to become a rather dead issue. No matter what, he could not break through the restrains that was around him.

"What is it you want? I believe we can come to an understanding."

There was a crisp voice, almost triumphant although it was hard to tell because if was muffled. Never the less, this was a voice that caused everyone who heard it to know that the person speaking meant business and there was nothing wrong with that at all.

"Of course you will, your compliance has been assured. Checkmate will ensure that we use all of our resources to its fullest degree."

The Brain was silent and the stasis tube was reactivated until the moment where the organization needed him.

* * *

M'gann awaited Harry's coming arrival, hoping to do something before she lost her nerve and it had actually be something that she had in mind for a long time. Megan Morse was the human mask that she wore to hide herself from the world and her pain from what happened with her survivors. All of those years in government captivity before she broke free by the chaos involving Sinclair, where she stuck to the shadows and then got a job at the Shining Light Foundation.

One thing amazed her and that was all of those years ago, she received an offer to become the Herald of Death of Mars. M'gann turned it down and that was that, but her work had brought her before the Herald of Death.

She sat on the bed, red hair flowing down her back, a freckled face showing a bit of nervousness, some trepidation that occurred. She blew her hair out of her face and edged around a little bit. She wore a tight white top that showcased her modest breasts, although with her shape shifting abilities she could make them any size that she wanted to. The tight black skirt wrapped around her legs and finally, the boots she wore topped the entire outfit.

The young Martian decided to wear a more native form, green skin although she was not completely one hundred percent comfortable showcasing her natural form. It was amazing, and her and J'onn had a nice and mature conversation about this, where the whites and the greens, they were both partially responsible for what happened and the eventual extinction of the entire Martian race one hundred percent of the way.

M'gann shook her head, it was unfortunate how a lack of tolerance and a little miscommunication between two sides could end up causing both races to be wiped out. Her face contorted into a bit of a smile, the person that was going to meet her was on his way here. That brought all thoughts of everything that occurred out of her mind and onto fulfilling her needs.

Martians tended to be very active in certain manners, especially when they found someone that they wanted to mate with. White Martians especially and if that mate can sustain multiple partners, it got them even more excited. She closed her eyes; she heard him coming.

"You wanted to see me, M'Gann," Harry remarked and the Martian girl nodded, carefully choosing her next few words carefully.

"I…I did Harry," M'Gann answered, tripping over her words ever so slightly with a little stammer in them but she kept her cool. "Remember how you said you owed me?"

Harry noticed that Megan was in a more natural form and saw the attire that she was wearing.

"Kara and Karen figured that this was coming up," Harry responded, when he placed his hand down on her thigh which caused the Martian female to shiver and feel a heat rise from beneath her thighs at his mere touch. "I take it you've never been with anyone in that way before."

M'gann shook her head. "No I haven't."

She edged forward, it was becoming unbearable to have him so near yet so far in many ways. M'gann almost tasted everything that he had to offer and she reached forward.

"Teach me, Harry," M'gann breathed in his ear, before she unbuttoned his shirt, revealing his sculpted abs. "I want you to show me what a real man does to a woman."

Harry's mouth found hers in a searing kiss while his hands moved around, to cup her breasts, which instinctively grew a little bit and the shirt she wore retracted around her body a little bit to allow him better access.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

Several hours later, Kara, Karen, M'Gann, and Harry rested in bed, covered in fluids but satisfied, and agreed mentally that they should do this again sometime.

* * *

Rose Evans shook her head, feeling the pounding in the back of her head, along with her heartbeat when she walked down the alleyway. To be honest, Rose Evans, Rosalina Sinclair, whatever one wanted to call her, she could not remember anything that happened since the moment that she was mugged on a trip in the United States years and years ago.

And when she thought about this, she had a feeling that she did not want to. The green eyed, red haired woman stood back a little bit, she was a mirror image of Lily Evans, later Lily Potter, to the fact that the two of them could pass as twins. Rose's hand twitched a little bit when she edged forward, carefully keeping her mind on the situation, feeling more vulnerable than ever before.

There were footsteps from behind her, edging closer and this caused goosebumps to pop up on the back of her neck. Rose thought that she was about ready to be attacked but she could not gauge by who or what. The redhead woman carefully spun around a little bit and saw three individuals, standing tall.

"Zod wants a word with you," one of the men stated, brandishing a knife in his hand.

Rose's eyes flashed forward in confusion and she wondered who this Zod was and why he would want a word with her. The red haired, green eyed girl stepped back a little bit and realized that her magical powers that were gone somehow when she returned back to wherever she was. Rose wondered if she had been stripped of those powers by those who attack her.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Rose answered when she backed off. She wished she could perform a spell, not that she needed to without a wand. She edged back a little bit, ready to fight out of the corner if need be. "Who are you…."

One of the men grabbed a hand over her mouth.

"You don't lie to us witch, you are the key to getting our powers back," one of the men responded and Rose squirmed, before she nailed him in the face with an elbow.

'_Magic, witch, powers, hello, bloody hell I'm dropped in the middle of a city without any powers,' _Rose thought as scrambled forward. _'The good news is those people don't have powers and the bad news…."_

A gunshot nailed Rose in the back of the leg and caused it to crumple out from underneath her. She felt her knee crumple to the group and blood spurted out of it. The three men rushed over, and stood over her.

"She should have been able to block that," one of the men responded when he cracked his knuckles and turned to his two fellows. "It must mean that she was telling the truth, she's nothing but an imposter."

Rose thought that was the point that she was trying to make although perhaps that was not a good point to make when these men made their next move. The fact that she was not Lily was going to be hazardous to her health as she turned out. The red haired depowered witch tried to push herself to a standing position before collapsing on the ground.

"Well if she's not the witch, then she doesn't need to live a moment longer."

Rose's blood ran cold when they stood over her, weapons armed and locked, aimed at the back of her head. Her hands twitched when she tried to get herself up to a standing position. The red haired woman shield herself to them.

"I don't…."

Rose felt the memories of being in the wrong place, at the wrong time, getting mugged without her wand. That was the last memory that she had and now getting savagely attacked one again would be the next memory she had. Her heart beat up against her chest, before folding her arms into her head, grabbing her head and bracing herself for the worst.

The worst did not happen for the three individuals went down, one shot after another. There was a crash when they went down to the ground and Rose felt the loss of blood overwhelm her. The witch felt flashes of memories flood into her mind, memories that disturbed her and horrified her. Especially considering they seemed to be through the eyes of some kind of monster and that monster was her, she pushed herself back up, but collapsing done hard.

The shock of the memories flashing before her along with the trauma of the blood loss caused her to pass out. There were a few flashes that Rose saw but she could not see anything other than the little bit of dark hair that was out of the corner of her eye. A pair of hands scooped up Rose and sped her off, leaving the three Kandorians to lick their wounds on the ground.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter. **


	9. Chapter 9: Day Off

**Chapter Nine: Day Off**

A few days had passed since the adventure with the Doom Patrol and there was a rare opportunity for some downtime for all involved. Harry ducked his head down, before Diana swung a glancing blow at him. He dodged another attack whilst they stood face to face with each other, in one of the many gym areas of the Shining Light Foundation. This sparring session gave Harry a nice little work out. He dodged the attack from Diana and bounced back, before sliding underneath the legs.

"Nice one," Diana responded, she was dressed in a tight black top and a tight pair of leather pants, but she had no shoes on. The Amazon moved forward, trying to box Harry in with strength but his speed and agility proved to be a challenge. "These workouts get more intense."

"No holding back," Harry offered and he swung a punch, dodging it, before he grabbed her around the waist and took her to the ground. Diana grabbed around his arm and flipped him to the ground, before she tried to leap up.

Harry caught the foot and flung her back down to the crowd, before trying to catch her with a leg sweep. She avoided that one, and tried a back hand but Harry blocked it.

"Keep it up," Harry encouraged her, blocking her back hand punch and the Amazon had a smile on her face when she eyed Harry.

"Oh believe me I am," Diana responded before she slid underneath his legs and tried to take them out from underneath him but Harry blocked the attack once again. "Well you're doing rather well, I think."

"Agreed," Harry offered as he spun and pivoted off to the side, blocking even more punches from the woman. One had to think two, three, four, moves ahead of an opponent, otherwise they would go down in a heap rather easily.

Harry's thought processes were getting quicker, as was his reflexes. Diana, Karen, and Kara were good at keeping up with him; even Chloe was making marked improvements with her powers and how to utilize them rather well, with her hand to hand abilities increasing as well. All of his girls were doing well in that arena, even though Diana was the one that was doing it for her entire life, so naturally she would be a little bit better in that arena.

The kick aimed for Harry was dodged and the wizard kept a steady pace, ducking his head and rolling out of the way. The Amazon flew forward; trying to grab him in a bearhug but Harry squirmed out, and turned around, before grabbing her arm behind her back and twisting it.

Harry was not going to say that he had this one, because he knew that being premature with something like this was going to bite him in the ass later. Especially with a proud warrior like Diana, who kept coming at him, swinging her punches but Harry dodged them, pivoting around, and he swung up, before kicking up into the air. The wizard evaded the attacks, before going down, and grabbing her legs.

"Not bad," Diana breathed while she blocked his attack and hoisted him up but Harry flipped over onto his feet with precision.

Harry used the woman's leverage against her and aimed a kick but it was blocked. The wizard twisted around and landed on his feet. This sparring session without any powers was going rather well, actually it was going far better than Harry could have ever expected. The raven haired Herald of Death avoided the very spirited attacks of the Amazon princess; she kept coming at him, swinging fists of fury that got more furious.

Diana's attacks were varied and she decided to go in for another attack but Harry slid behind her and grabbed her arm, pinning her down to the ground in a hammerlock, but she reversed it and flung Harry across the room. He stuck the landing on the wall, bounced off, flipped over her head, and landed from behind her.

A smile crossed her face before she told him teasingly. "Show off."

"Not showing off if you can back it up, princess," Harry offered with a bow, before he motioned for her to come forward.

Diana offered him a smile before she edged forward, going for another swing of her hand, but the attack was avoided. The dark haired Amazon Princess smiled when she enjoyed more and more of this little sparring session, as their battle increased. She spun around and then pivoted on her heel, before aiming a kick but Harry dodged that one.

"Well you can most certainly back it up," Diana remarked when another attack was avoided and another spell rocked her back. "In more ways that one."

"We're jumping ahead to the cool down, aren't we?" Harry asked with a grin when she grabbed his wrist but he flipped out of her grip again. There were no powers in this battle, just skill between the two of them. Powers tended to not allow them to push their bodies to the limits, even though they had some high limits.

Diana's face twisted into a smile before she watched him, calculating what she would do next and a n eyebrow raised. She pushed forward with another attempted attack, but once again Harry dodged them. Punch dodged, kick evaded, spin around, and sweep the legs but Diana avoided that, before slipping out of the attack.

The two continued to circle each other, the strikes getting more intense between the two of them, but neither backed down. They could go at this for hours and in some ways they had been going at it for over an hour. The warrior spirit both of them had proved that they were not about to back down for any reason. The raven haired princess backed up against the wall and Harry pushed her to her limits and beyond. The wizard was not done and he kept up the attacks.

Eventually, Diana stopped, when she felt her lasso wrap tightly around her, and she was down on the ground. Harry had her trapped and pinned down to the ground, tied up in her own lasso. The woman's blue eyes snapped up to face Harry's.

"So you win," Diana breathed heavily when her eyes gazed towards him.

"Yep, bit of a cheat when you consider it?" Harry asked, but he grabbed Diana's face, stroking it, before pulling her into a sharp kiss. Their lips met together in the passionate fury, their tongues dancing together for dominance that only the two of them could offer.

Harry placed a pair of hands on her breasts and helped her out of her lasso. The moment that she got up, she grabbed Harry around the waist and backed him against the wall.

"I've got you now, Mr. Potter," Diana stated before she unbuttoned his shirt, and teased his abs with her fingers.

"You got me, but you think you can keep me here?" Harry asked as she pinned him against the wall.

"I think, I might," she stated, before smashing her lips against his with another searing kiss. Harry wrapped his arms around her, when the two continued their motions.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

* * *

"I don't know, it's just almost like I've had a better focus on my magic since these training sessions started."

Rachel closed her eyes when she sat down, panting after another session with Harry. The truth was her magic did not really have many defined limits but Harry was trying to push her to see if she could edge past those limits. So she could be the very best that she could be and seize the day, at least that was the plan that Harry offered. The wizard wanted to get the most out of her abilities.

"Are you sure that wasn't because you have a better pull on the emotions that you have?" Harry asked Rachel, a smile crossing his face, which the half demon returned, a bit guiltily but she returned it never the less. The wizard always made her smile, no matter what, that was one key thing that she could take to the bank.

"Yeah, I guess that would be it, kind of," Rachel admitted as she focused on Harry, and all of the moments that the two of them shared together. Of course, that caused her mind to go wild with what they got up to recently. "It's just that….I thought that I had control of my powers before."

"No, there is potential, untapped potential," Harry remarked carefully when he placed his hand on Rachel's and flipped it over, before watching her. "I think that bringing out the most out of your potential is the thing that we're striving for now."

Rachel nodded, Harry did seem to get the best out of the people that he was working with but there was one spot that he seemed to be frustrated with.

"So, how are things between you and…."

"I don't want to talk about it Rachel," Harry responded as the half demon raised an eyebrow at this sudden outburst. He was unusually firm and stern, to the point where it kind of took her aback to hear him speak in such a tone. The half demon's eyes flickered carefully when she watched him.

"Okay, I respect that," Rachel offered as she turned around and they prepared for the next stage of their lesson, it was unwise to have her grow too restful with the type of magic that they were doing. At least that's what Harry constantly drilled into her head.

Harry thought about the latest snag in Clark's life, which could pose a problem. He hated to say this, but Clark really needed to stop and take a good long look at his life. This desire to prove that he was not the weakest was really unsettling to Harry. In some ways, he supposed that he could sympathize, to an extent but in other ways, he wanted to take a really huge cinderblock and bash Clark's head in repeatedly with it until he got the point.

The only one holding Clark back, was Clark and his own insecurities. That was the point that Harry saw. So what if there was people who were better than him, stronger than him, or whatever? He should take that as a challenge to motivate himself to do what he could, not a challenge to make more reckless mistakes than Harry ever did make at his lowest.

Harry decided that after the incident, he was best if he kept his distance firmly away from Clark. It was just kind of smarter for his sanity all things consider. Lana, Raya, and Lois were going to have to keep a tighter watch on them and he appreciated the daily progress reports Lois gave him when he swung by the Planet. Whatever grand destiny Clark had, it was not shaping up to be one that he could handle now.

Never the less it was back to the lessons with Rachel and Harry watched the dark haired girl, impressed with the progress that she made. Her hair framed her face when she tried to manipulate the magic around her.

A light knock on the door brought Harry out of the thoughts and he turned to Rachel, before he whispered to her.

"Continue the lessons, I'll take care of this right now," Harry answered as he edged away, leaving Rachel to do what she needed to do.

He opened the door and saw Megan and Claire standing on the other side.

"I have to swing by and give you some messages and Claire figured she'd tag along for a visit," Megan answered and Claire gave a brief smile, when Harry pulled his daughter into a hug.

"How are you doing, Claire?" Harry asked, as he bent down with his daughter.

"Fine Dad," Claire offered with a smile, the truth was that while the workload in her classes increased, she was doing well. "I'm making a scrap book for a school project."

"Oh really, what's it about?" Harry asked when he walked down the hallway.

"its newspaper clippings featuring the Blur," Claire answered in a happy voice when she moved down the hall. "The other kids already took Supergirl, Power Girl, and Arcane, and Batman."

Claire hung her head feeling that she was the victim of a random drawing that was so totally rigged.

"Well at least the Blur is doing what he can," Harry responded, keeping his voice neutral, not wanting to give his daughter any of the hints that he had about the distaste that he had regarding Clark and his attitude as of late.

"Yeah, but it doesn't seem like he's been around that much, I hope he's doing okay," Claire remarked when she looked outside the window.

"Even heroes need some time off," Megan offered wisely and Claire nodded, that made sense. Her parents took a day off, sometimes, well it wasn't that off, but they did. And they were her personal heroes, even if the Blur was kind of cool too.

"True, that's true," Claire offered, with a smile, before she checked the time. "I think I've got to get back to class."

"Well your attendance is so good, I don't think you want to mess that up," Harry offered to her.

"Perfect attendance so far this year, not even a sick day," Claire offered with a smug smile that she got from hanging around Chloe a bit too much.

"Well I'm sure you'll perfect that perfection," Harry stated as he lead her off and Megan smiled.

"Tell Mom I said hi, and I'll see her tonight."

"I will, I will," Harry offered with a smile and he spun around to face Megan.

"They're downstairs," Megan whispered to Harry and now his curiosity got the better of him. "Two of the Kandorians, they actually took your olive branch."

Now Harry's curiosity got the better of him.

"So how is Garfield settling in?" Harry asked as they moved forward.

Megan frowned before she offered a smile. "Coping rather well especially, given the circumstances."

Harry did feel a little bit of guilt with what happened, even though he could not get too hung up on it. Clark's self-righteous act tended to grind on his nerves, because there were instances where he ignored the fact that there were things that needed to be done. They actually made progress regarding Doomsday but now with that step forward, Clark took about twelve steps back.

The wizard decided to not focus on that but rather he focused on the Kandorians before him. Two women sat in the waiting lobby, patiently, with civilian clothes being worn. One of them watched Harry carefully, with an appraising expression in the eyes before she turned away when he caught her looking but the other regarded him with a bit of trepidation.

"Sorry to keep you waiting for so long," Harry responded to both of them.

One of the women, dark haired spun towards Harry. "No problem, Mr. Potter….I mean you're a busy person and we're….you have people more important than us after all."

"Everyone is of equal importance," Harry answered with a warm smile when he took a look at the women. "So what do you want, tea, coffee, water, anything?"

"Water would be fine," the second woman stated as she regarded Harry. She had been sent here to get a feel of what Harry Potter's offer entailed and whether or not he was being sincere with said offer. The woman thought that he might be but there was a certain amount of certainty which she lacked. "My name is Faora, and this is my sister Vala."

"Please to meet both of you," Harry offered with his usual charming smile.

"How did you know about the Kandorians?" Faora asked, prodding him.

"I come across the orb a long time ago and I did some research on it," Harry answered them and the two women nodded. "Someone released you from the orb."

"As far as we know, the last thing we remembered is giving our blood on the battle field before we charged in for the battle of Kandor," Faora answered trying to piece together the information but there was something about his piercing green eyes that seemed familiar to her. "And then that was that other woman that was released along with us."

"Other woman?" Harry asked, feigning innocence, but also keeping a bit of interest, and he tapped his pen down.

"The witch," Vala whispered, looking over her shoulder. "She has red hair, green eyes, just like yours."

"My mother," Harry answered nonchalantly. "We've had our share of…disagreements in the past shall we say."

That was something that did not even scratch the surface with what the problems between Lily and Harry were but it was good enough for now. At the very least, the wizard would not be accused of making an understatement of the century. His eyes carefully watched the two women, gauging their reaction.

"Major Zod believes that she holds the key to restoring our magic," Faora stated, now was the moment when she watched Harry.

"Does Zod believe that now?" Harry asked as he watched both of the women to get their reaction. "Does Zod also know that it could be a catastrophe if hundreds of super powered Kandorians are left with free reign of the Earth?"

Vala thought about that and thought that he might have some kind of point but Faora kept her eyes on him with a firm gaze..

"Zod wishes to make the world a better place," Faora responded as she watched him.

"Perhaps, you know him better than I do," Harry commented lightly, but he was reserving judgment for now about Zod. Perhaps Zod would never become the man that destroyed Krypton or perhaps he was doomed to that destiny.

Harry had a meeting with Zod in a couple of days, then he would know. This business deal between Luthorcorp and the RAO corporation could prove to pave the roads that could allow the Kandorians a better life and maybe Kryptonian technology could benefit humanity in the future. Of course, Harry wondered if humans would be ready for it. They would find out in due time.

"I wish to reserve judgment until I personally meet Zod," Harry commented in a light tone of voice.

"A fair assessment," Faora nodded in a diplomatic tone of voice when she watched Harry. There was a shade of green eyes that was only seen one other place by her before, other than his apparent mother. There was a lost house of Krypton, the house of Rell, and she wondered if this Harry Potter had distant ancestry from it. She recalled her studies; it was a union between the oldest daughter of the House of Zod and the youngest son of the House of El centuries ago to create a brand new house.

"Yes, extremely fair," Vala answered as she watched his eyes carefully but there was another figure that came down and Faora and Vala watched her. Vala gasped when she saw her blonde hair and blue eyes and she remarked in a confused tone, "Alura?"

"No, I think you have me confused for someone else," Kara answered whilst she surveyed the two Kandorians before her. "I'm her daughter though."

"Of course, we forgot ourselves," Faora answered with an apology. "It's just you resemble your mother so much and we were friends with her, even before the Kandorian army."

This caught Kara off guard but she nodded. Then again there was so much about her mother that she did not know.

"So, you were there at the end?" Faora asked as she eyed Kara with a ghost of a smile. "How did we die?"

Kara paused, freezing up a little bit, the last thing she wanted to do was tell Faora what happened regarding her and Zod. The two of them got married and then they eventually created that twisted creation as their son. Then her body was stripped and sent to the Phantom Zone.

"I'm afraid you must have died with the end of Krypton," Kara responded, deciding to give them the benefit of the doubt. She supposed that Vala died, casualty of the war, or anything. She didn't know everything.

"Then we will make sure that end does not come again," Faora responded briskly.

"Believe me, if any of your Kandorian brothers and sisters need anything, I will do what I can to help," Harry offered. "The mission of the Shining Light Foundation doesn't extend to empowered humans."

"I'd…."

Vala was cut off by Faora. "We'll consider your offer but do you have any information that we can look at in the meantime."

Harry was prepared for that answer and popped open the brochure before handing it to them both.

Faora flipped through it lightly. "It's written in Kryptonian?"

"It is charmed to display in the language that is most understandable to you," Harry informed her and Vala looked impressed, as did Faora, although she hid it better.

"Magic really can do anything," Vala stated as she watched Harry, found herself caught in his eyes until her sister cleared her throat.

"But can it restore our powers?" Faora asked Harry as she kept her eyes on him. He did not answer with anything for a noncommittal shrug. "Thank you for your time."

He shook hands with both of the women, as did Kara. The two watched them leave.

'_So did you slip a tracking charm on them so they can lead you back to base?' _Kara asked.

'_Not this time,' _Harry responded as the two of them left and Kara's eyebrow corked in a slight amount of surprise.

'_Mind if I ask you why?' _Kara asked Harry, trying to follow her husband's thought process regarding this situation.

Harry was only too happy to point out the situation. _'Because, I want to gain their trust in any way that I can. And spying on them is not the way to do it, at least not now. And Zod's going to come to me eventually; I don't need to follow subordinates.'_

'_But there's another thing,' _Kara thought to him.

'_Your mother is out there,' _Harry replied back through the mental link.

'_But where?' _Kara thought, biting down on her lip in frustration and Harry grabbed her hand, before squeezing it tightly. She relaxed in his grip.

'_I don't know, love, but we'll find her, along with everyone else that seems to have been thrown off the grid,' _Harry thought to Kara.

Kara was visited with a painful thought, what if her mother didn't want to be found?

* * *

Tess sat across from Harry at a table and watched him carefully, raising an eyebrow when she kept an appraising eye on him.

"So you've had visitors within the last day?" Tess asked Harry and he nodded.

"I was surprised, pleasantly so, when they arrived," Harry offered when he watched them.

"And you let them leave," Tess offered, not in an accusing manner but trying to figure out the thought process. The woman rubbed her hands together, when watching her through a pair of green eyes, staring him down.

"Yes, I let them leave, no one is ever held at the Shining Light Foundation against their will," Harry responded when he took the wine and brought it up to his lips, before looking at her thoughtfully. "The Kandorians need to know that there are options, Zod could make them overly reliant on him."

Tess nodded, although she did wonder what his game was. She held out the folder that she brought to the meeting.

"This is Zod's project," Tess answered as she passed the blueprint in front of Harry, seeing the two towers stand there side by side. "Do you know what his purpose might be?"

Harry studied the blueprint carefully when he watched the blueprints, an eyebrow raised when he did it, taking a few moments before running his finger along it. The Herald of Death kept a moment before folding it over his head.

"In theory this will revolutionize energy," Harry responded delicately when he read the outlines of the blueprints, studying it. "The thing is, I wonder why Zod wants to turn the yellow sunlight into red?"

"Come again?" Tess asked with a raised eyebrow as she read the document, before tapping on the side of the paper.

Harry was all too happy to indulge her with the answers to her question.

"See those reflective mirrors on the top of the towers?" Harry inquired and Tess offered a light nod, when she followed his progress.

Suddenly it clicked in her mind.

"The satellite uplink increases the potency of the mirrors, which bounces back a loop and causes red sunlight to be bathed across the Earth," Tess murmured, it was a more technical process in that but she was impressed. The towers were innocent looking enough, and the red haired woman thought about that. "If it wasn't for that one small feature…."

"It would have been what Zod claims it was designed for," Harry responded as Kara turned up to join them for the meeting.

"A few people were roaming around the outside of the Shining Light Foundation, it looked like some of them wanted to go in but they pulled themselves back," Kara explained to them before Harry placed the tower blueprints in front of him. There was a moment where Kara watched the tower, her eyes widened when she saw it. "So that's what his game is?"

"Yes, that's his game," Harry offered to her, with the blonde sitting down in the empty chair next to Harry.

Harry paused for a moment before he thought over everything in his mind, there was a moment where he mulled over the problems with this in his mind. The fact of the matter was that if he denied Zod this request and this partnership, he would go to another company. If Luthorcorp went through with this project, than Harry and Kara could keep a close eye and control the project, along with forging alliances with the Kandorians.

"So are you going to tell….a certain party about this?" Tess whispered to both of them.

"That party, needs only what he needs to know," Harry responded with a shrug, after the way Clark was acting, Harry thought that he should be kept out of the loop for his own good.

The entire Zod thing was a disaster waiting to happen and with Clark's current mindset, Harry wanted to mitigate the damage. Of course, he had a feeling that those two worlds will collide when the time was right. The wizard calculated a dozen different plans in his mind and how they went wrong.

"The Kandorians might leave Zod if they have the right leader," Tess prodded at him. "And if it wasn't you….someone else might step into that role."

Harry understood that someone else could mean more than a few people and one of those people was in fact Lily Potter. The wizard thought that his mother going underground meant that she was plodding something.

"I thought for sure that I heard something regarding your mother," Tess offered as she sighed and watched Harry, keeping her expression businesslike even though there were other thoughts on her mind. "There are ways to track the Kandorians, but only within a certain range. And these images came in, maybe you can make heads or tails of it?"

Harry and Kara looked at the images.

'_That's…Rose…Sinclair…you know, your aunt?' _Kara thought, looking over the pictures.

'_I know,' _Harry thought in responded, watching the pictures. Anyone who did not know better, what mistake Rose for Lily within the pictures but there were a few subtle differences, Rose's hair was a slightly darker shade and she was about an inch or two shorter.

"The final figure really gets me confused, I see this pair of hands but she's caught in the shadows," Tess explained as she paid close attention to Harry. "All of these people coming out of the woodwork, but why?"

"That's the million dollar question," Harry answered, whilst he studied the pictures and blinked. He saw a pair of hands and frowned. A hint of dark hair was seen but that's all the Herald of Death could make out.

'_And the plot thickens,' _Karen thought through the mental link, when she clasped her hands together.

'_You can say that again,' _Kara thought back through to her.

"Mind if I hang onto those images?" Harry asked as he stared Tess directly in her eye.

"Be my guest, they're only copies," Tess stated, with a shrug, figuring that if anyone could figure out anything, it would be Harry. She spent countless hours trying to pinpoint a face or anything but there was nothing. "And Zod is going to meet with us at two o'clock in two days, I trust you'll be ready for that."

Harry was looking forward to this meeting that he was gearing up for Zod.

"I'm ready," Harry answered as he clasped hands firmly with Kara but she corrected him with a slight smile.

"No, we're ready," Kara stated with a wide smile.

Tess watched the two chief members of the Shining Light Foundation and technically her partners in Luthorcorp and she was glad that they were ready to go. Perhaps everything was going to turn out for the better after all.

"Fair enough, I'll see you then," Tess responded, knowing that having Harry and Kara as back up would allow her some more leverage. Plus if Lily crashed the party, well she would be privy to a little bit of a family reunion.

Tess kept the knowledge of the side effects of the blood that healed her to herself for now, although she ran numerous tests. There were several elements in her blood that were unknown and as someone who studied much that baffled her.

It give her extraordinary abilities beyond many humans but she'd keep that under wraps, for now at least.

* * *

Lois sat on the edge of desk at the Daily Planet, sipping her coffee and deep in thought. Clark actually took a long leave of absence and no one knew when he would be back. He sat in the barn at the Kent Farm long nights, remarking that he was reflecting on everything, and wondering if there was a place in this world for someone like him. The Last Son of Krypton was someone who could get into these weird phases that even Lois failed to wrap her head around. After the incident with the Doom Patrol, he had one what seemed like monthly crises of faith.

"Clark's still thinking that I'm the anti-Christ, isn't he?"

Lois nearly jumped but remained calm otherwise. Thankfully she did not spill her coffee because invulnerability or not that would be bad.

"I'm pretty sure he doesn't think that you're the Anti-Christ, he's just being complicated," Lois offered Harry with a light shrug and Harry watched her with a raised eyebrow. There was a moment where the two of them stared each other down. A grin crossed Harry's face when he watched her.

"Complicated, is that what we're calling it these days?"

Lois thought that was understating things actually. "He's just being quite, reflective, the spark that was in his eye for heroism is gone."

'_Doomsday killed it,' _Kara thought to Harry through the mental link.

'_Yeah, I imagined so,' _Harry responded with a thought as he thought his eyes.

'Do you think….things are getting difficult?" Lois asked with a tentative glance in her eyes. She made a promise to never retreat despite how hard things were getting but there were days where she wanted to rip her hair out by the roots. The only thing that soothed her was that Lana and Raya voiced similar irritations.

"Have things ever been simple?" Harry responded as he locked eyes with Lois.

Lois folded her arms, shifting a little bit, with her feet on the ground, it was honestly true, things were never easy. There were always going to be complications and these things were getting even more complicated with each passing moment.

"I guess not," Lois admitted to him. "I think we should take a vacation or something."

"Vacation, could you clarify what that means, I'm unfamiliar with that term?" Harry asked with a teasing glint in his eye.

"Well, it's where some of us….you are winding me up, aren't you, Potter?"

Harry offered her a slight smile before he stared her down. "Guilty, guilty, I'm so guilty."

"Well, always," Lois responded as she turned around and watched the traffic for a second.

Lana and Raya were extremely patient despite their obvious frustrations with Clark's behavior and Lois thought that she personally was showing a lot of patience herself. Normally she would have flipped out and did something drastic to Clark by now, given the way he was acting. This entire protector situation, it did tax her, but she figured that life was not worth living without a few challenge. Even though this was a challenge that might end up throwing her in some kind of crazy house.

"So the point is that we're going to take Clark, if he's consenting to go with us," Lois responded before she closed her eyes. "I don't know where, but I heard Brazil looks nice this time of the year."

"It would be a change of scenery with the same-old, same-old of Smallville, Metropolis, or whatever, plus it might spark something in Clark to get his act together," Harry offered with a thoughtful smile.

"I sure hope so," Lois stated when she closed her eyes. "I don't want to think that it's a last ditch effort but things aren't looking good."

"Clark's still down and moping, isn't he?"

Chloe turned up to greet Lois.

"Hey, Chloe….no, I don't want to call it moping but he's oddly silent, it's almost like he's not interested in doing anything," Lois responded with her attention half on Chloe and half on Harry. She then turned it fully on Chloe. "You knew him longer than any of us so maybe…."

"I can't say anything, but I will say that I know Clark has a stubborn streak a mile long and when he digs his heals into the ground, he can go deeper like anything other," Chloe answered as she patted her cousin reassuringly on the hand and the dark haired woman nodded carefully. "Just stick with it. Be warned, the super sulk might be prolonged until something snaps him out of it."

"I hope so, because Lana's about to lose her patience with him and she might do something drastic," Lois answered fretfully but Chloe watched her.

"Just, Lana?" Chloe asked with a curious expression.

"Well Raya too?" Harry inquired with a raised eyebrow.

"Well both of them, alright?" Lois asked before she offered a moment's pause, with both her cousin and her cousin's husband staring her down. Lois shifted in annoyance. "And I guess I'm part of that as well, but I don't know what to do."

"Just keep at it Lois, something will break," Chloe offered in an encouraging voice and Lois nodded.

"Slow news day," Lois offered when she watched Harry.

"Never slow, you just aren't looking in the right places," Harry responded and Lois offered him a mock solute before she edged off. "Send Lana and Raya my regards when you see them….and Clark too, I guess."

That left Chloe and Harry along with each other and the two walked forward.

"Any luck?" Harry asked in a low whisper to Chloe and the blonde held out the paper.

"Well the face is not being recognized, which means….there's no record of it anywhere," Chloe offered as she bit down on her lips lightly and Harry grabbed her hand, carefully squeezing it lightly.

"You did the best you could, Chloe, that's all we could ask for," Harry offered, seeing everything click into place. He managed to pick out one more detail that had been missed by him. "Green eyes…not just any green eyes, but my green eyes."

"So your female doppleganger strikes again," Chloe offered when she watched. "And she's helping your estranged aunt."

"The more I know, the less I understand," Harry stated, closing his eyes and sighing.

Find Lily, find Rose, find his female self, and also keep an eye on Clara, who decided to fly off to god knows where. He had a feeling that everything was piecing together, although he had no idea how it was being pieced together.

* * *

"Problem?" Harry asked as Zatanna sat at the edge of his office, folding her arms.

"Well, more or less," Zatanna responded, wondering where to begin. The beginning seemed like a good place as any. "Some of my father's old possessions…well someone acquired them and sold them to the highest bidders."

Harry could have cursed his bad luck and her bad luck after he heard about this news. There was a moment where he never thought anything else happened but then he did.

"My father also had a tendencies to fly off the handle and start hexing things for revenge purposes," Zatanna added as she moved forward and placed her arms around the waist of her old friend and current lover. "Which might be an occupational hazard of him running out with your father and godfather during their younger days. Half of the time, I think they egged him on."

"Do you really think your father needed much prodding?" Harry asked as he spun around and brought the raven haired sorceress onto his lap, her legs crossed over his when she peered into her eyes. A frown crossed her face before she responded with a slight inclination of her head and threw her head back with a sigh and crossed her arms with a frown.

"No, not that much prodding," Zatanna admitted as she faced Harry and leaned in to him. "But you and I both know the type of things that could be out there and how unpredictable magic could be, especially the longer the item has been enchanted."

She paused before adding, wrapping her arms around him when she straddled his lap.

"We're talking about the Statute of Secrecy violations flying everywhere," Zatanna continud before she paused and added. "If there still was a Ministry or Ministries, I suppose."

"How many times did your father get hauled in front of the Ministry because he broke that act anyway?" Harry asked with a grin across his face.

Zatanna looked oddly reflective when she asked this question, an extremely thoughtful expression coursing through her blue eyes. "A few, give or take."

"Give or take?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow and she nodded.

"Mmm, hmm," Zatanna answered as she watched Harry, trying to gauge his reaction to what she said. "So will you help me?"

"Well if I used your magical signature, we might be able to pinpoint where your father has the items with the Shining Light Foundation super computer," Harry responded as he held Zatanna's hand and she bounced on her heels.

"Great," she responded in an excited voice, unable to wait to get started.

"Okay, press your hand to the console like so," Harry offered, showing Zatanna the general movement and she copied it.

Moments passed when the Shining Light Foundation scanners copied everything. Given that the computers ran off the entire essence of life itself, it was something that was capable of everything, to the fact where it was evolving to serve whatever purpose Harry had figure out. The green eyed wizard watched when everything clicked into place, when the blinking dots flashed, one by one, by one.

Harry watched as the dots amplified, multiplied, several times past what they were in the past. The wizard's curiosity could not be sated so he turned to Zatanna with one look in his eyes.

"So how many objects did your father enchant?"

Zatanna watched the dots blink to light and began to see that there was a lot more to her father's work than previously met the eye. If nothing else, her heart sped up even more when she watched it. Sure enough, there were a lot of objects on the radar and they increased with every single moment. As it turned out, her work was cut out for her. Thankfully, Harry was able to set this up where she could gain the general proximity of the items, otherwise she would be in a bind.

"It seems to be a bit more than I thought," Zatanna remarked as she bit down on her lip and Harry raised an eyebrow, a smile crossing his face before he teased her.

"Just a bit?"

Zatanna crossed her arms and inclined her head a little bit. "You know what I mean."

"Enlighten me a little bit," Harry responded as she sighed.

"Well I was under the impression that most of the items were destroyed or lost their potency," Zatanna explained with a shrug when she watched everything. "My father tended to get prolific, although I didn't know he would be able to do that much or that many things."

The girl turned before she added as an afterthought.

"I'm half tempted to blame this on Sirius."

"Hey, leave the man alone, he's dead," Harry responded with a teasing grin. "Besides, why would you lay such a serious accusation on Sirius?"

"Well seriously speaking, Sirius was really serious, about….no we're not playing this game," Zatanna responded as she watched him with a frown on her face. She had been tricked into this never ending loop of Sirius and serious before.

"Seriously?" Harry asked her with a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, quite," Zatanna offered before she threw her head back and sighed, allowing it to escape her lips. "But getting back to your question….loads more, but the worst of it is his desire to curse random comic books."

"Seriously?" Harry asked her once again and Zatanna turned towards him, a narrowed gaze being given. The emerald eyed sorcerer smirked and offered a faux innocent expression. "Okay, I'll stop, promise."

Harry kissed her on the lips briefly, which caused her to be less irritated and she relaxed.

"The good news is that most of them are rare collector item where no one will open," Zatanna added when she watched the dots slow to a crawl. "Because you know, they won't be mint condition and drive their collector value down the toilet."

"Thank Merlin for geeks being obsessive compulsive," Harry offered as he watched the computer crawl to a blinking halt when he pulled back.

"Yes, that's always a fortunate thing," Zatanna agreed before she took the print out from him with a gracious smile. "Thanks, I'll be able to track this down."

"If you need any help…."

"Don't worry, I know that you're a call away," Zatanna offered, when she leaned forward and gave him a kiss, this time out of gratitude. "Bye."

"See you later, Zee," Harry answered as he turned back to his work, he had to focus on the task at hand.

Harry continued with his person search but so far, not good enough. Of course if she was a Herald of death like he was, she had ways of hiding herself. It was like trying to play chess against yourself and Harry was stuck in an infinite loop against his double.

* * *

There were many times in his life where Harry Potter waited for the moment of truth but it was sneaking up to him. The moment of truth was ahead. Tess stood next to him, as did Kara, and Karen decided to stop by with the meeting as well, even if she watched outside, circling the building in invisibility mode.

This was one of those situations where it was best if Harry had some sort of back up and any minute, he would come through those doors. For better or for worse, he would come inside, to face Harry and the meeting would be at hand. The green eyes of Harry flickered when he thought about what would happen during this meeting.

"Miss Mercer, Mister Zod has arrived."

It was the moment of truth and in many ways, it was the day of reckoning. Harry and Kara exchanged an expression filled with tension before they waited and heard the footsteps. One step at a time, he reached closer and closer. They sat at the edge of their seats, knowing that there was going to be an instant before the arrival of Zod took place.

The door knob twisted open and the door swung open to allow the entry of the man. Tall, dark hair, dressed in a suit. He was the charismatic type but behind that charming exterior laid the man with the twisted ideals to turn into potentially one of the greatest monsters any world had ever seen. Zod was here and he walked into the meeting with the type of bold confidence that few could match.

"Miss Mercer, our initial meeting barely scrapped the surface," Zod responded with a smirk crossing his face and there was no mention that Tess was held captive when Zod briefly encountered her. His eyes looked towards Kara for a brief moment.

"Is there a problem, Mr. Zod?" Kara asked in a cool voice.

"No problem, you just remind me of an old friend of mine," Zod responded when he looked at Kara and the young man beside her. Kara blinked but otherwise did not react. Those green eyes were quite striking, if Zod was a woman or inclined to be attracted by the same sex, he could find himself be lost to them. "And this must be the famous Harry Potter."

"You'd be surprised how often I hear that," Harry stated as he watched Zod offer his hand.

"I hope I'm not being brazen with offering a handshake at this juncture," Zod responded in a crisp voice and Harry took his hand, carefully shaking it, his grip firm, as was Zod's.

Tess watched the silent interplay between Harry and Zod, it was almost like two Alpha males jockeying for territory on the same position, on the same turf. And neither was willing to back down and give up the dominant stance they held. They squeezed tighter yet in the extremely firm handshake before Zod was the first to show any emotion with a slight wince which Tess and Kara both caught and they caught each other's eyes.

"A pleasure to meet you, Mister Zod," Harry responded as he stepped back, the wizard caught the wince as well. "We've been looking over your proposals."

"I forgot, you and your wife are Miss Mercer's partners in Luthorcorp, so of course you will be privy to that information," Zod responded as he watched them all, all three of them, ready to maneuver them. "And I've heard about your marvelous foundation, where you help people cope with their powers. The helping hand you extended to my Kandorian brothers and sisters, it was quite generous of you Mr. Potter."

Zod wondered what Harry Potter's game was but he suspected that answer would be given to him all too soon. The crafty Major watched Harry and Harry stared back towards him, neither backing down or breaking off their gaze. Both refused to even give up any ground whatsoever. Still the fact that some of his Kandorians looked to Harry and Kara Potter as a potential beacon of light, someone who could help them on Earth, made Zod feel a bit inferior.

And inferiority was something that had no place in the House of Zod.

"The solar towers will revolutionize your world," Zod responded and he went over the proposal about all of the way that they would cut back on energy consumption.

Harry and Kara listened to his sale's pitch and technically speaking, a good portion of it was extremely accurate. The dark haired wizard and the blonde Kryptonian kept their thoughts firmly focused on the ways that Zod would corrupt the towers. It was one of those situations were good technology got perverted for uses that was less than adequate.

"Well, there are many benefits," Harry responded as his fearless gaze locked onto Zod's eyes. "If you don't mind, I have a couple of concerns."

"Relay them," Zod responded in a cordial voice, when he leaned back on his chair.

"Well first I have….an issue with the satellites and the way that they are configured," Harry responded when he pointed them out to Zod. "The atmospheric shields would present a problem, as they could decay the Earth's ozone layer beyond what has already done."

"I agree with your concern," Zod responded before he decided to drop the bombshell. "But these healing nodes on the edge of the tower, they will beam the energy and heal the damage. Said damage will allow the sun to be filtered in more naturally."

Harry figured this out and so did Kara.

'_He's permanently altering the atmosphere,' _Kara thought to Harry

"I just want to make my adopted home a better place, Mr. Potter," Zod responded as he eyed him. "You know where I come from."

"Yes, Zod, yes I do," Harry responded in a brisk voice and the tension could be cut with a knife.

"We are very much alike you and I, more so than you could ever realize," Zod stated in a cryptic tone of voice.

"Maybe I have a word with both of my partners?" Tess chimed in for the first time. "Your plan is sound but we want to make sure that we're all on the same page."

Zod waved his hand before he watched them, calculating expression dancing in his eyes before he peered at them. "Take all the time that you need. I will be waiting for the answer."

Kara, Tess, and Harry made their way to the adjacent room. While Zod did not have his super hearing, Harry took no chances, hence the reason why he put up the anti-eavesdropping spells. All Zod would hear was a buzzing in his ear.

"So?" Tess asked Harry and Kara.

"Sign off on it," Kara responded and Harry nodded in agreement.

"My opinion is still the same that it is a few days ago, better Luthorcorp oversees the production of the towers than someone else," Harry answered when he closed his eyes.

'_Plus I can lock onto the towers and control them with the SLF computer,' _Harry thought to his bond makes.

'_You…that's not a bad idea per say, but I wonder about the risks,' _Karen thought from outside. _'Zod is just sitting there right now, in case you're wondering. It would be so easy to take him out and make it look like an accident.'_

'_Give the Kandorians credit, they'd suspect something,' _Harry thought when Kara kept Tess distracted by talking to her.

'_So…you're going to put power in the hands of a tyrant?' _M'Gann chimed in, feeling surprised at her daring.

'_No, my hands,' _Harry thought. _'It's always in my hands.'_

Harry spun around, under the pretext of checking something before he nodded.

'_Harry knows what he's doing,' _Diana warned them through the bond link.

Harry edged himself through the room, with Tess and Kara following.

"I do have several other proposals if you are…."

"Luthorcorp will agree to construct the Solar Towers," Tess responded in a firm and diplomatic manner when she crossed her arms, watching him and she sat down, reading over every single line of the document, to make sure she was not being tricked into signing anything dubious. The redhead kept her eyes firmly on the document.

"I can tell you that everything we discussed is followed preciously to the letter," Zod answered, popping his lips briefly.

"I can see that, with my own eyes," Tess responded swiftly, she was not an idiot, she refused to sign anything without reading it, so she passed the contract to Harry and then Kara.

Harry read over the contract three times, he was extra careful.

"Number one rule of business, never can be too careful," Harry commented to Zod when his eyes were locked on Harry's.

"Of course, Mr. Potter, I wouldn't want to do business with someone who doesn't know what you're doing," Zod responded but his mind was going many miles a moment.

Those eyes were something that marked a legend on Krypton and one that Zod found a bit of obsession with. He gathered a strong obsession about the occult throughout his time on Krypton and the various legends that surrounded it. One of the greatest mystical legends was the nature of Death and her Heralds, there would be many.

Obtaining the power of the Herald of Death was something Zod found himself intrigued by. Looking into his eyes, Zod saw him, he was the personification of the barrier between life and death and he had power beyond measure. He had the potential to be an extremely powerful ally and also an extremely mortal enemy.

Tess was the first one to sign the document. Then a moment later, Harry scratched his signature on the document. There was a slight pause, before Kara placed her signature on the document and both of them watched each other, wondering what would happen next.

"It's a pleasure doing business with you," Zod stated with a slight bow of his head.

"Likewise," Harry answered, not bringing his eyes off of Zod's face, not even for a mere moment but he backed off.

Now, it was time for the aftermath or whatever that brought. Zod left the building.

'_Now we wait to see what he does next,' _Kara thought to Harry, grabbing his hand tightly. _'And….we're not going to tell Clark about this, right?'_

'_We will eventually but not until I know where all of the cards lie,' _Harry thought to her and Kara responded with a nod.

The doors burst open and Indy popped in.

"Miss Mercer, I have traced the source of the signal that tried to hack into Luthorcorp computers," Indy responded and Tess turned around.

"I thought you said that you weren't able to trace that," Tess responded, half in an accusing voice.

"Well it is coming from some remote location in Brazil," Indy added, her violet eyes dancing with the triumph of her success.

Harry and Kara locked eyes with each other; there was most certainly something to this entire business.

"We better check out before the trail runs cold," Harry answered and Tess offered a stoic nod before they made their preparations.

**To Be Continued. **


	10. Chapter 10: Surprise Visit

**Chapter Ten: Surprise Visit.**

Finding a signal and tracking said signal down were two different things. Yet there was a lot on the line, more than they could even imagine. Before Harry knew it, he was on a private jet, along with Kara, Karen, and Tess. Indy was there also, given that her expert skills would need to track the signal. Kara turned to Harry for a second and projected one single thought to him.

'_This is the weirdest signal I've ever seen in my life,' _Kara thought to herself as she saw it blinking on the radar. Sure enough the signal was quite peculiar, but most things about life were. The blonde took a moment to turn to her husband and sister wife, before biting down on her tongue. _'It's almost Kryptonian.'_

'_But it isn't at the same time,' _Karen thought to herself and her mates, wondering what was going on. This had to be some kind of mish-mash technology.

"Hopefully we'll be able to find the person doing this and put a stop to them," Tess commented, speaking up for the first time during their entire trip. She took protecting confidential Luthorcorp data very seriously and the point that someone was trying to bust into her files was something she took great offense to. The red head woman turned to her tech girl with a stern expression. "Indy, are we any closer to pinpointing the signal."

"I am working on it but these things take time," Indy stated, a bit of frustration flickering in from her voice.

"Maybe we should have brought our tech person along for the ride," Kara suggested but Tess shook her head.

"As good as Chloe is, Indy is far more capable than her," Tess stated as she turned back to the girl, who was not blinking and focused on her work. At times, Tess got the sense that this girl became the work and the woman's eyes contorted, a scowl crossing her face.

'_Chloe may beg to differ,' _Kara thought in the link, almost with mirth dancing from her voice.

'_Yes, I would, how dare some….seriously is she any good?' _Chloe asked, a bit of worry flooding her tone through the mental link.

'_She is fairly decent,' _Harry thought to her, but then something caught his attention and he could not help but voice this next thought. _'Come to think of it, she reminds me of you in many ways.'_

'_Only an upgraded version of me,' _Chloe thought, those thoughts dripping with dread but Harry chuckled.

'_Chloe, relax, you have nothing to worry about,' _Harry responded through the link in a reassuring tone.

Kara did not say anything but normally when someone said that they had nothing to worry about, there were more reasons to worry about something than never before. The blonde shook her head, before watching Indy plug away at the computer. She was rather amazing in many ways, but there was something about her that Kara could not quite put her finger on.

They would find out all too soon but Indy's eyes remained unblinking, unfocused, and the young woman took a moment to look at the equipment which was lighting up like a Christmas tree. The frown on her face spread more and more. Tess noticed this straight away and commented on it.

"Is there a problem?"

"A slight one," Indy admitted as she turned around to face the woman before her and a shrug on her face. "I have detected a large quantity of unstable energy that is altering the gravitational field around the ship, causing our flight to become extremely unstable and we're flying at an angle."

There was a pause before she added.

"This is not an ideal situation." Indy responded in a flat tone of voice that was dripping with logic and nothing more. The girl spun around a slight bit, clutching her fist together before she tried to tap into the computer. "We will be going down at a rate so quickly that we will crash and there is only a thirty nine point three percent chance of us surviving the explosion."

'_Yes, that isn't ideal,' _Harry thought to his wives.

The Heralds locked eyes, they knew what they had to do, they needed to stabilize the plane so it did not fall down to the ground hard. Harry, Kara, and Karen closed their eyes and summoned their powers. To her credit, Tess remained rather cool under the face of fire, which was good, given that there was no telling what would happen with this plane going down to the ground. If someone lost their head, things would go quite worse.

The plane landed down to the ground, but they pulled back and kept it from flying down hard. Harry, Kara, and Karen let out the breaths that they were holding and spun around, breathing in and out heavily.

'_So any landing you can walk away from…." _Kara thought but she shook her head, her mind was rattled because of what happened. Karen grabbed onto her tightly.

"Are we both alright?" Harry asked to Tess and Indy.

"Believe me, I've had worse," Tess stated, the truth was her wrist was bruised for a second but then the pain and any marks were gone as her skin healed. And she supposed if she did not have her seat belt on, it would have been much worse.

Harry put a hand up in the air, to try and scan for any weird magical energy signatures but there was a blipping sound that caused him to stand up straighter than he ever was before. The Boy-Who-Lived, the Herald of Death, whatever title he was using now, he sensed something in the offing. It was not the warm tidings of welcome either.

There was a cracking of sticks together and that rarely bode well for anything. The wizard stood on his heels, trying to determine what the source of the cracking and smashing was coming from. Kara and Karen kept on their toes hovering slightly in the air.

'_What's going on?' _Karen thought to herself but it was Harry who gripped her hand tightly. The blonde sighed in and sighed out.

'_We're going to deal with something bad,' _Harry thought to his wives but Kara was the one who sprung in with another inquiry.

'_How bad?'_

Harry paused before he made his statement. _'Undesirable bad.'_

The dark figures swooped forward, clashing their sticks together, and sparks flew through the air, before they edged forward, nasty intentions in mind.

"Take him down, he is the one that blocks us from releasing our master.'

Tess edged off in a direction that Harry could quite yet but to be fair, he was a tad bit preoccupied by the situation that presented itself. He stood with Kara and Karen, and they circled around, trying to not get boxed into one situation or the other. The blondes and the dark haired wizard both wondered one thing and that was who were these people fighting for.

Kara blasted one of her enemies down onto the ground but he got up immediately. Karen grabbed Kara by the hands and swung her over her head. The younger blonde knocked one of her enemies down with a huge impact, both of her feet connecting with the waist of an enemy.

'_One down, several more to go,' _Kara thought to herself, just getting warmed up.

Easy this was not, especially when there were more to these people that met the eye.

* * *

Clark Kent sat on the ground, his legs folded and his arms folded as well, taking a moment to reflect. He had been taken, against his will, practically kidnapped, from the Kent Farm, by Raya, Lana, and Lois, and brought to Brazil for a trip. It was not a trip that he wanted to go on not. He felt his powers, they were still normal, no more stronger than they were a year ago. That point frustrated him greatly.

"Hey, Clark, just put your chin up and focus!" Lois yelled as she stared at him, shaking her head. There was some times where Lois wanted to establish a permanent relationship between her head and a desk when she was around Clark.

Lana closed her eyes, trying to raise and lower her body temperature at will. Depending on the heat her body emitted, she could shoot fire or ice. Of course, getting that down to a science, that was the problem. The dark haired girl saw Clark, before she shot a blast of fire, giving him a hot foot.

"Lana, what was that for?" Clark asked, but a grin crossed her face.

"It was to keep you from moving like a bump on a log, and it's obviously worked," Lana responded, annoyance crossing her face. "It's been three months, Clark, don't you think…."

"No, Lana, I don't think, and it's not Clark, remember, it's Kal-El," Clark answered, before getting to his feet. "I've got to leave the human part of my life behind if…"

"No, you don't have to do any such thing," Lana responded, grabbing Clark roughly around the shoulders and pushing him down to his knees. Clark felt annoyed, like he was being scolded. "Whatever Jor-El has to say, you need some time away. Whether it's another month, six, or a year, you need to…"

"I need to be out there, protecting the world, and how am I supposed to do that, where there are people stronger than me?" Clark asked, a bit more hostile than he would and he grabbed Lana's hands and shoved them back, before turning around.

"Are you trying to say that Harry should have boosted your powers when he found a way to give us ours?" Lois asked, trying to wrap her head around Clark's logic.

"No…I….I don't need him to do anything for me," Clark responded with frustrating dripping from his voice, at the very thought of owing Harry any favors. That was something that he was not going to be on board one hundred percent of the way. He shook his head, clearing his cobwebs.

"Well, perhaps there was a reason why he didn't offer," Lois responded, before she turned to Lana.

'_He's being stubborn," _Lana thought to Lois, who shook her head.

'_He's being Clark,' _Lois thought, trying to think of various ways to correct his behavior. She could get creative with it if she put her mind to it. _'Although I'm trying to think of how to control my…multiplication problem.'_

'_Why is it a problem?' _Lana asked, curiosity getting the better of her and Lois shook her head, before bringing Lana back up to speed.

'_Well it's a problem in the sense that the dupes tend to get their own personalities after a few minutes and it's hard to control them,' _Lois thought as her face crossed with amusement. _'There's happy Lois, sad Lois, mad Lois, and Lois acting like she inhaled an entire truckload of sugar. Then there's Lois who has ambitions of world domination.'_

'_That could be bad,' _Lana admitted with a slight chuckle.

'_Bad is grossly understating how that might be,' _Lois thought to Lana but she tried to remain herself focused. Dealing with Clark's various quirks and the way he was acting, it was becoming a rather prominent job.

Raya returned for scouting the village, she thought that she saw something. Clara, who decided to tag along on this trip, followed her.

"He's still stuck in permanent sulk mode?" Clara asked Lois and Lana in an exasperated tone of voice and the two girls responded with nods. The Kryptonian female threw up her hands in frustration, abject frustration. "I don't know….I hope I never acted like that."

"Did you?" Lois asked but Clara shook her head.

"I didn't….at least I don't think I did, "Clara answered, but she was sure that Alex, if she was here, would tell her differently. The dark haired girl shifted herself on the ground. "Maybe a little bit but not to the extent that he did. I would've wanted to drown myself in liquid Kryptonite."

"That bad, huh?" Lois asked and Clara shrugged her shoulders.

"That bad, yes," Clara agreed, hoping that whatever Clark was going through, he would figure out how to get his head on straight.

She personally was about to suggest stripping him of his powers, stripping him of his clothes, and throwing him out in the middle of a crowded city, it might teach him some much needed humility.

Raya decided to break her self-imposed silence, turning to the other girls. "We have something, lurking around the edge of the village."

Clark bounced out of his funk, eager for a chance to prove that he was not weak.

"I'll go…"

"No," Lois stated in a firm voice.

"But…"

"I said no!"

Clark spun around and sped off, figuring that he did not need to listen to them. Which caused Lana's exasperation with him not to mention her patience to reach a fever pitch; he was acting like a three year old who was told that they couldn't have any sweets at the super market now.

Lana made a movement like she was going to go after him but Raya shook her head. Lois was the one who piped up. "Let him, it's the only way he's going to learn."

They waited a couple of moments and there was a thump on the other side of the village. That was their cue to go forward. Lana bolted forward first, with Lois and Raya following them. To his credit, Clark managed to stay on his feet, but these robed figures surrounded him, blasting mystical energy bolts from their hands, when he ducked and dodged the attacks.

"Okay, I'll bite, who are these guys?" Clara asked, popping up next to them.

"Don't know but we better leap in," Lana answered, jumping in before knocking one of them back. She turned to Clark who grunted and spun around to knock another one out without acknowledging her assist. "You're welcome, Clark."

Clark did not say anything, but he sent them flying, crashing down to the ground. The impact where they hit the ground, it was immense. The Last Son of Krypton swung his fists hard and knocked them down to the ground. He sent them flying, with Lois, Raya, Clara, and Lana pitching in when they could.

"So, who are these guys anyway?" Lana asked as she froze two of her enemies in place.

One of the enemies flew forward, with Kara punching the robed figure at the speed of light. "Lana, Clara, Lois, Raya….ah…."

Kara ducked the knife swung towards her and Karen swooped in, using her heat vision to take it out. Then the blonde wiped out an enemy, with Harry flicking his wrist, sending them flying up and out of the air. They sliced into the barbed fence, landing with a splatter of blood on the ground.

Clark's eyes widened, he was trying to put them up.

"He resembles the usurper, destroy him with extreme prejudice," one of the lead hooded robe members.

"The usurper, who could they mean?" Lana asked, but she paused. "They don't mean…"

"They do," Clark responded through gritted teeth and with clenched hands as his heat vision fired forward.

Clark was wondering what Jor-El did this time to screw him over with someone who was going to kill him.

He then was sent flying to the ground and knocked out with an impact. Lana rushed forward and engaged the enemy, for they could take another fatal shot at Clark.

They turned and ran.

"And they've got away," Harry responded, as they faded into the dust.

"Not a good thing, I take it?" Lana asked him, but there was a pause before Harry shook his head.

No it was not a good thing, because they might have gotten away but they would all return in immense numbers. That put the Heralds of Death in a bind and with Clark there, trying to now be the hero, they weren't able to do the work that they were set to do.

* * *

Tess managed to salvage some readings from the plane after it went down. They should have been in a million pieces by all rights, although thanks to Harry and Kara, they managed to dodge that particular bullet. The red haired woman walked forward with Indy trailing closely behind her, the violet eyed girl arching her head up and watching the situation around her.

"I believe one could say that we are close to our destination," Indy remarked in a careful and rather calm tone of voice, arching her head up and spinning around. "I think that it may be prudent…"

"Indy, do your job, I'll decide what we do," Tess answered carefully, inclining her neck back a little bit. "I believe it'd be prudent for us to remain careful."

"That was what I was going to say," Indy answered whilst she rolled her eyes but she came to the conclusion that it was best if she remained silent and allowed Tess to guide her a little bit.

The creaking could be heard with Tess making her way around the corner. She kept herself from sticking too far ahead of the group but she had a sense that whoever hacked into Luthorcorp, they were nearly around the corner. The red haired woman kept herself steady, holding herself back from jumping the gun but she sensed something, a presence of some sort and said presence was quite unsettling.

Tess closed her eyes, there were problems, but she had to keep her mind off of them. Suddenly, she saw a blur and a streak of blonde hair. This individual was dressed in a black t-shirt and jeans and for a second, she thought it was Kara. Tess edged forward, to investigate. Indy remained outside, like a good subordinate.

Venturing into the unknown, Tess looked up and opened her eyes. "Hello is anyone…."

The blonde blur shot out and grabbed Tess around the shoulder. Tess was surprised and felt her knees buckle out from underneath her. This was not before she saw a pair of piercing blue eyes, and she went down. This person could be Kara's doppleganger, they looked that they could have been separated at birth.

"Miss Mercer, I'm sorry for the intrusion, but there are certain things that I need to know," Alura stated, grabbing the portable computer device off of her. Tess was aware that she had been compromised but because she was in a state of temporary paralysis, she could do nothing about it.

Tess laid on the ground, eyes flickered, body motionless, more helpless than she ever had been before in her life. This was not good at all and she struggled to push herself back up to a standing position. The red haired woman collapsed to the ground in a hacking fit of frustrating. Never one to ask for help, Tess shook her head and tried to get back into the swing of things.

Who attacked her in such a way and why? This person, they looked like Kara, but they most certainly were not her.

She was about to get her answers for the doors opened and there was a blast of sunlight inside. Tess turned her head, struggling to find a method to get to her feet. There was nothing to her getting to her feet, in fact, she felt her arms grow rather numb as she shifted. Harry was the one that revived her.

"So do you have another evil twin running around?" Tess asked to Kara in a joking manner.

"Evil twin?" Kara asked confusion rolling through her voice and prominent in her eyes.

After those words from Tess clicked into mind, there was something that Kara recalled. Her eyes widened when she remembered it, distinct recognition appearing within her mind and the blonde felt her mouth hang open. She was here and Kara barely missed her. Had she arrived a few seconds earlier, she would not have missed her.

'_What?' _Harry asked her mentally.

'_It's….Alura,' _Karen thought before she spun around wildly, hoping to get a hint of her. Kara did the same.

"Whoever it is, they're gone now," Kara responded, keeping her voice rather calm.

"She took a portal computer device, there was sensitive Luthorcorp Data on it," Tess responded but Kara's eyes locked onto Tess's, before she remarked.

"Was there anything on there about the Kandorians?"

Tess was quick to shake her head. "No, but…."

"Then you have nothing to worry about," Harry answered in a swift voice.

There was a moment where Tess blinked and her eyes locked onto Harry's, before she stated the obvious.

"You knew who's behind this, don't you?"

Harry did not waste any time responding, the smile crossing over his face before he imparted that knowledge on her. "I got a little bit of a hunch but if I'm right, they're only dangerous to certain people. Zod for starters."

'_I hope,' _Harry added mentally as he focused on Kara. _'Do you have any idea….'_

'_What my mother is planning?' _Kara asked but he could sense the frustration dripping from her thoughts. So close to seeing her mother but so far, she was pulled away. _"Not a clue. I don't even know….but we'll find out, she hasn't gotten that far.'_

'_Well if she has, she moves pretty quickly for someone who doesn't have any powers at all,' _Harry chimed in and Kara responded with a nod, that much was for certain.

"So are you going to be alright?" Harry inquired to Tess in a low voice.

Tess paused for a moment, wondering if she could answer that question with one hundred percent clarity. The woman put her hands to her head, before taking a moment to look at Harry, and offered a slow nod. She stated the obvious. "Yes, I'll be fine….we got to find the source of who was hacking into our systems."

'_I've got something from our end,' _Chloe projected to Harry, butting in suddenly. _'They're rather close.'_

'_Of course they are,' _Harry thought but then they had another problem. _'Don't look now, but we're about to have another close encounter.'_

There robed fiends were back and more dangerous than ever. Kara, Karen, and Harry knew that their first little encounter was only going to be a taster. They were outside, with Tess on the inside and Indy having slipped off to parts unknown. Of course that did not really matter, because they had far more pressing matters to deal with.

Before they could react, Clark jumped in. Kara was about to protest but Harry held up a hand. She trusted his judgment on this one, watching Clark move in carefully, knocking the enemies around with swift fury, taking them out one shot at a time. There was a punch, another punch, and another punch, all of them clattering.

All attacks were done at super speed and by the time Lois, Lana, and Raya popped up.

"Well looks like Kal is a bit quicker than we thought he was," Raya responded, it was actually quite refreshing that some of his Jor-El training stuck. Now if he could lose the attitude, they'd be in business.

Clark had one of the robed figures suspended by his ankles, hovering in the air. He struggled against the grip of him.

"You've got ten seconds before you get dropped hard," Clark said in his most threatening voice, making Harry think that they better check to see if Batman was still among the living because Clark was channeling his spirit.

"You better do it, I don't know if I can keep him from throwing you," Clara added in a sweet voice as she hovered up next to him, playing the "good cop."

"NOW!" Clark yelled in his gruffest voice, and Lana, Raya, and Lois blinked, this was a side to Clark that they never thought that they'd see before.

The minion stammered and shook above the ground but he started repeating one word.

"Rorrim, Rorrim, Rorrim!"

"That's a stupid name," Lois stated, breaking the silence.

Harry shook his head. "Think about it Lois, actually reflect on it and it makes perfect sense."

Lois thought about it and realized….yes it was almost clever. She did mentally stress the point where it was almost clever because something like that could scarcely really be that clever. The brunette woman placed her hands on her hips and threw her head back, sighing rather deeply.

"So is Rorrim planning Redrum?" Lois asked Harry and he nodded. "Yeah I thought so."

'_So Rorrim, that name rings a bell,' _Karen thought to them and they knew who it was, an extremely powerful demon that had been trapped in an enchanted mirror, one of their undesirables left on their check list.

'_It should, he's on our list,' _Harry thought but Karen grinned.

'_Time to check another one off,' _Karen responded to them.

They had to make plans to deal with it.

* * *

'_So, this is Herald business one hundred percent, which is why we sent Clark and the others in the other direction,' _Kara thought to them as they edged closer to the temple. She paused. _'Do Clark and others know why they are being sent as far away from the battle as possible?'_

'_Well Clark doesn't,' _Harry informed her.

Karen offered a smile. _'It's just as well; we don't want his attitude getting in the way of our jobs and getting done what needs to be done.'_

'_For sure,' _Kara agreed as they hovered towards the side.

The three of them hovered towards the torch filled temple, hearing the burning embers when they got closer and closer. The two blondes and one dark haired Herald knew that they were getting rather close to their destination. There were a few things that vexed them that they saw here already but they would find out.

'_So how do we get inside?' _Karen wondered as she placed her hands on the tunnel.

'_The front door is a good of place as any,' _Chloe projected through the bond link.

'_Hey, no comments from the peanut gallery,' _Karen thought, as Chloe, Kara, and Harry all seemed amused. _'And yes, that's kind of obvious.'_

'_Almost too obvious,' _Kara thought as she clutched her fist, looking sharp, the blonde pushed the doors open. Dust kicked off and they nearly chuckled, but there was a blur that shot in front of them.

"It looks like you found the temple," Clark remarked and Kara winced.

"What are you doing…."

"What am I doing here?" Clark asked but it was at those words where Lana, Lois, Raya, and Clara showed up, all of them wearing expressions of discontent. "I'll tell you what I'm doing here….I'm doing what I was supposed to do, what I'm destined to do."

Kara's eyes snapped towards Clark's face and she practically hissed at him. "Destiny? Now you sound like Jor-El does. I don't know what's happened with you but your attitude, whatever it is, you better fix it, immediately!"

Clark shook his head. "I don't have an attitude problem, my attitude is perfect."

There was a rumbling.

"Clark, Kara, later," Harry whispered and Kara nodded but Clark turned to Harry and began to question him.

"I'm not going to listen to what you…"

"You actually better listen," Lana responded but Clark rounded upon her.

"You have no right to tell me what to do. You're not my mother and I'm not sure how much I'm going to put up with this or you trying to stifle me!"

"If either of your mothers were here, they'd be pointing out how much of a self-important d…."

"Well isn't this touching?"

Harry, Kara, and Karen spun around, with the others following and a group of hooded figures edged from the temple soon after. All of them meant business and they edged towards them, the trio of Heralds waved their hands forward and knocked them backwards.

'_Rorrim is not making this one easy!' _Kara projected to them, freezing her enemies with her super breath and this allowed Karen to knock them back for the kill. The blonde Kryptonian knocked them down with ballistic fury.

Clark decided to step forward, and knocked one of his enemies down. Of course, while he was attacking the enemy, he disappeared into dust, and an attack from behind blasted Clark hard. He was fighting an enemy beyond anything that he could see or even perceive. This caused his head to be rattled, along with his senses.

'_Do as Jor-El taught me, focus on my senses, lash out, and strike,' _Clark through to himself but this little attack was easier said than done.

Clark charged forward but hit some kind of wall. Blasts of black fire hurled towards him but Clark dodged them. He ducked, weaved, spun around, and dodged once again.

"Grab him, bring him to me!"

The hooded figures charged at Clark but Lois was in and ready to go. Closing her eyes, she split in half, then the halves split into fourths, the fourths into eighths. She aimed a different attack at the enemies, sending bolts of white light towards them. They all dodged the attacks, with precision and skills beyond anything she ever realized.

Clark decided to step forward and paused, before he spotted the glowing mirror. It hummed with increasing intensity and he knew that he drew closer. It was just a matter of reaching that mirror and taking him out.

A blast knocked Clark back, onto his backside. He fell to the ground, landing hard and black tentacles wrapped around him from the mirror. They squeezed him tightly; even his super strength was no match for these enemies. He tried to shake himself loose but no matter what, he could not break himself free. He struggled, as Rorrim's laughter echoed throughout the chambers, getting more sinister when he gripped Clark hard.

"I have you now star child and now I'll…."

Three beams of heat vision sliced the limbs of Rorrim off and the demon screamed out in horror.

"No, I must have him…"

"Sorry, Clark's not on the menu," Lois responded before she stepped forward. "Besides, you should put him down; you don't know where he's been."

"You are a mere…."

There were three blasts drilled by three Heralds of Death and they held the mirror demon in position. He was an undesirable, no question about that but he was not about to go down without any kind of fight. He struggled and squirmed out of the way, trying to shift his way out of the attacks.

The glowing red eyes and stony face of Rorrim showed, teeth gritted as he pushed his way through the mirror and yellow beams of light shot out of the mirror. Harry, Kara, and Karen blocked their attacks, the shield appearing around them.

"I have you now!" Rorrim growled as he tried to ensnare the Heralds in his grip but they blocked it, slicing his tentacles.

"Who has who?" Harry asked, before they conjured their full powers. A shield appeared around them, blocking external interference because it was time to reap.

The three of them blasted their attacks, burning through the mirror demon. The mirror shattered and his minions exploded into yellow fames. Lois in particular watched with widened eyes as spontaneous combustion visited all of the minions and Rorrim staggered screaming in agony.

Clark tried to get back off of his knees but Kara reached forward, grabbing him around the hand. He paused and took her hand to allow her to help him up.

"Next time, remember there's a good reason for not wanting you involved," Kara responded swiftly, seeing that Clark was mostly in one piece, although it was good that he was not sliced to ribbons with his soul consumed.

Harry, Kara, and Karen turned around without another word and left, before Clark could say anything.

"Remember, when he acts like this, he's your cousin," Karen responded and Kara hung her head with a very labored sigh.

"I know, I know," Kara answered, throwing her hands into the air in frustration.

Tess returned to them, a frustrated expression on her face. Harry, Kara ,and Karen spun around to face her, acting like nothing out of the ordinary happened. Although with this trio, the ordinary was actually rather odd, given the things that they have been through in the past, but they took a moment to keep an eye on her.

"I'd like some good news for a change, if you don't mind," Tess responded and Harry, Kara, and Karen exchanged a swift look before their eyes turned towards her. "Yes, I thought that there wasn't any good news."

"I have some promising information."

Indy showed up and Harry, Kara, and Karen spun around to see what she had to say. As it turned out the information was rather promising and perhaps the first solid lead that they had all day.

* * *

"Well this computer equipment is state of the art," Tess said with a whistle as she looked it over. "Someone paid some high prices when they got ahold of this."

'_Or they borrowed it,' _Kara thought to them.

'_You think your mother is a thief?' _Harry thought to Kara, and the blonde offered a shrug, a smile crossing her face.

'_I don't know anymore, after what's happened today,' _Kara thought as she stepped forward. _'Did you ever think that yours was a borderline psychopath bent on wiping out eighty percent of the human race?'_

Tess did not notice that the two were mentally relaying something to the other due to the fact that she was trying to access the computer equipment. She frowned and bit down on her lip, trying to cycle through the program. She found more and more that she could not figure out but there was something that she figured.

"She didn't find anything for what it's worth," Tess answered but Indy was in. Tess stepped to the side, allowing Indy to do her job.

Indy's eyes narrowed in supreme concentration as she shifted through the computer. Kara, Harry, and Karen waited on pins and needles. The young computer hacker shifted through every inch of the data on the computer, combing through it. It was not gone unnoticed by the Herald Trio that she was well more adept at using this technology than Tess was.

'_Your mother somehow managed to create Kryptonian technology from human spare parts,' _Harry thought to the trio.

'_She was rather resourceful,' _Kara thought with pride.

"You were correct, this individual was trying to find information on the Kandorians," Indy responded, not bothering to mask the fact that she knew precisely who they were talking about or that she overhead Tess, Karen, Kara, and Harry talking about them.

Harry's eyebrow raised as he caught the tone.

"Do you know anything about the Kandorians?" Harry asked to Indy.

"I have no further information about them," Indy responded in a brisk voice but there was something about her tone that made Harry wonder.

'_Something's not right,' _Kara thought to them and Harry and Karen responded with nods, that was the truth.

"All that I know about them is what I've overheard from you and Miss Mercer," Indy responded in what seemed to be a hasty afterthought.

"So nothing about Zod?" Harry prodded her.

"That name holds no relevance," Indy stated, but there was a moment's pause for she stated this.

Tess and Harry locked eyes now, both of them thought the same thing. They both thought that Indy was a bit odd, but the fact that she was potentially tied into the Kandorians in some way, that made her worthy of a little bit more study. The wizard turned his hand over and shrugged.

"So, another day at the office for you," Tess remarked casually. "I had no idea we were going to be brought down by that."

She paused before stating without missing a beat.

"You had no idea either, did you?"

Harry offered his answer in a brisk tone. "Not one clue."

"So, maybe next time we can get together, we won't be threatened by someone almost killing us," Tess suggested, almost hopefully.

Harry's face twisted into a slight smile. "We can only hope."

* * *

Reflection was something that Zod spent far more time doing now than ever before, reflection of what he had to do, and the mistakes that he made in the past. His hand clenched together as the Kandorian spun around. His people were scattered, divided, and he knew where their loyalties shifted towards.

Harry Potter was dangerous.

That much was known to Zod, he offered an opportunity beyond loyalty to Zod. He could give them the one thing that Zod could never give them. Powers beyond their wildest imaginings, something that was their birthright, something that they looked forward to when they appeared on Earth but something that they were robbed of. The demise of Krypton, it was believed to have happened generations before it did.

The Book of RAO eluded Zod, it would be the key to create the new age of Krypton. It was supposed to be sent here with the orb and the stones but it was missing. The stones had fallen into the hands of another.

"There is this outpost in the Artic, Major Zod," Basquet informed him when he turned up.

"Have you been able to get close enough?" Zod asked as he watched his subordinate.

Basquet shook his head, fearing the consequences but Zod did not bat an eyelash.

"Is it Harry Potter?" Basquet asked.

"No, this outpost is the design of only one person, from the imagination of only one man," Zod stated in a crisp voice.

The name remained unspoken.

"So he still exists," Faora stated as she showed up. "But he hides from us and decides not to join us."

"Because he has betrayed us," Zod responded in a swift voice, but as it turned out, there was something else that caught his attention.

There was a high end piece of Kryptonian technology that was very near and under the possession of Tess Mercer and by extension Luthorcorp. That was one of the reasons why Zod sought the partnership when he did. He must have the Kryptonian technology she possessed but first he needed to find out what it was.

The time would be right and all would kneel before Zod.

* * *

"We were premature to assume that there was information on the Kandorians on Tess Mercer's person."

That statement was given by Alura as she stood at the edge of the Artic, arms folded. The outpost was in her line of sight and the figure stood across from her. Her face was obscured by a parka hood; her hands were covered by gloves. Alura knew the identity of her mysterious benefactor.

"I didn't think so but we needed to remain certain, they are covering their tracks well for now," the woman responded, as her voice gave a hint of a British accent. Her voice offered a tone of coolness, like the ice princess she was. "It was what was written by Rowena a decade ago. They will either lead us to a new age or destroy us in an attempt to resurrect an old one."

"What have we done with this cloning experiment?" Alura asked, regretting it immediately.

"You thought the best of your people, it happens to us all," the woman responded, as she leaned forward and placed her hand on Alura's. "You must not blame yourself."

"Yes, one could not have figured out what was to become of us."

Alura turned around and saw the girl standing in the artic, with a red jacket, yellow shirt, and jean jeans, her dark hair blowing in the wind, wrapped around her head. The blonde eyed the girl.

"You might not remember be, but my name is Thara Ak-Var," Thara responded and Alura's eyes flashed with a sudden amount of recognition.

"Ak-Var, a brilliant member of the council but if I'm not mistaken, he did not take part in the experiment," Alura stated, her mouth narrowed.

"No, my parents decided not to return," Thara responded in a delicate voice.

"So you were one of the survivors?" Alura asked. "How many of them are outside the orb?"

"Four, well technically five, including myself," Thara responded, turning her head and shaking it a little bit.

The mystery woman smiled, before she drawled in a bored tone. "For a race that's extinct, there are a fair few survivors."

Thara agreed. "There are, there's Kal-El, Raya, Kara, Karen, and me."

'_And technically Harry, although they don't need to know that,' _Thara added to herself. She wondered if Harry was a member of the lost house of Vell. Eight hundred years ago, an explorer named Peve-Rell went to Earth on a mission and never returned. She may have found a new home on Earth but the legends were not quite clear.

"I caught a glimpse of this Kara girl, she does resemble me in many ways," Alura stated, but paused, that was unlikely the right explanation. She did resemble Alura to the point where if the two stood side by side, one might think they were looking into a mirror. "Are we related?"

"Yes, she's your daughter," Thara responded and that caused Alura to look aghast.

"We can worry about the family reunion later, my benefactor wants her hands on the Book of RAO, she feels that it is an invaluable tool to help the savior of Kandor," the mysterious woman responded and Thara and Alura both nodded. At first they were skeptical, but now they knew what was at stake.

* * *

Destiny was such a word that was tossed around very much but it was an apt term. There were many times where people tried to outrun their destiny.

When Jor-El woke up, he realized that Krypton had not outrun their destiny and the worst had happened. They were here on Earth, the Kandorians, and whilst thanks to his modifications, they did not have their powers, he expected the worst would happen eventually.

He looked up at the Kent Farm, a smile spreading across his face, with the wind blowing in it. This place held so many good memories.

"Can I help you?"

Lana saw this man, she held down the fort at the farm, while Lois and Clark were at the Daily Planet. Clark had his job back, hopefully he would not slack on it. She understood what Harry said, Clark was on the bubble with his job and that would not be good.

This man turned to her, staring her down.

"Excuse me?" Lana asked, wondering if the man was of sound mind.

The man, looked apologetic. "I'm sorry….you remind me of someone who I knew upon a time."

"I see," Lana responded, wondering the name is.

"I'm afraid we haven't been formally introduced," the man stated.

"Right, my name is Lana Lang," Lana answered, trying to figure out if that man was a threat. He looked rather non-threatening, a man in his mid to late thirties, with the slightest hints of grey hair.

"Good day, Ms. Lang, my name is Jor-El."

Lana nearly jumped up in surprise. That was the last name she suspected.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter. **


	11. Chapter 11: Surprise Visit

**Chapter Eleven: "Surprise Visit." **

Clark tried to maintain some sense of normality, although he was seriously considering given up the human part of his life. He felt as if he was standing on the bridge between life and death, he needed to make a choice, between embracing his human side or further embracing his Kryptonian. As he stood contemplating between the two, he choose his human side. He wondered if that would be a mistake, although it was one that he was willing to bare the consequences of.

He still has his powers back but it seemed like everyone around him had stronger powers than he did. It was quite demeaning to him and something that vexed him greatly. The Last Son of Krypton wondered if he was destined to be the lowest of the pack.

He tried not to think of that as he walked side by side with Lois, as the pair of them was on assignment from the Daily Planet. Harry forgave Clark's long absence but he did say that because of budget concerns, he was on the bubble. He did not need reporters that were going to flake out and not be able to function.

Clark took that as it was, as a not so subtle cue to shape up or ship out.

"Look alive, Smallville, we could be busting the lid off of the drug cartel's that are setting up shop in Metropolis," Lois said, with determination. If anything, with her powers, she was more fearless than ever. "Some guy's bringing in a pipeline from Gotham City and trying to bridge the gap."

"And that's….that's not my problem," Clark responded as his shoulder slumped.

"Drugs, corrupting the youth of America, screwing with people's minds and lives, I would think that would be everyone's problem," Lois responded as she rolled her eyes slightly. She wondered what was up with Clark today or rather lately.

Clark conceded that she had a point but then again, Lois always had her way of arguing these points where she was almost always right. She was like that, that was the way she rolled and everything. The Last Son of Krypton took a moment to look up and she decided to share the information that she had with him. The reporter was having her moment in the sun to shine.

"This guy who's the ring leader, his name is Cobblepot," Lois responded as she pulled out the picture so she could show it to Clark. "Look at this face, it's one that only a mother could love and that might be if she's blind."

Clark saw the picture.

"That's Oswald Cobblepot, he's a legitimate businessman in Gotham City," Clark responded but then he realized that the words "legitimate" and "Gotham City" should never be used in the same sentence.

Lois scoffed. "Yeah right, the guy's as crooked as a three dollar bill."

Clark looked at him. "What's with the monocle?"

Lois could not resist sharing this bit of information. "Well here's the thing, it's not really a monocle. It's actually a beer bottle that got shoved in his eye during a bar fight. Apparently, by the time he got to the hospital, it was too late. He went to a bunch of surgeons to get a second and a third opinion but the operation could likely kill him. He actually didn't mind, he liked the look. Although he did rip the guy's eye out who did it to him, an eye for an eye, and threw him out into the middle of Gotham City. One sick puppy, that Cobblepot, and he's really….well given some of the activities he's into, it's not surprising."

Clark could imagine so, he wondered if their resident bat was on Cobblepot's trail now. He would not be surprised if Batman was here and neither Lois nor Clark knew it. The Kryptonian nervously looked out for any flying rodent sightings as he moved forward.

"Let's see what's behind door number one," Lois responded as she X-Rayed the contents of the box and also picked up a whiff of it. Lois staggered back and Clark caught a whiff of it as well, pulling a face. "And our contents….cheese."

"I didn't know that cheese was supposed to be dangerous contraband," Clark responded but Lois gave him a look of discontent and shook her head.

"It's not, no matter how much it reeks but this is a dummy crate."

"Yes, and you reporters are the dummies."

Lois turned around as a pair of armed thugs riddled her with a barrage of bullets. She stood there, annoyed. She really liked that blazer, which was not invulnerable like she was. Rushing forward, Lois popped one of them in the mouth with a punch. They really needed to work on the disgusing their identities thing because Lois figured that Harry was getting sick of running interference with memory spells by now. The thug went flying ass over tea kettle and landed onto his back on the ground, his spine bent.

"You could have pulled that punch a little bit more," Clark responded but Lois heated up another gun with her heat vision.

"I could of but they didn't need to pull guns on me and wrecked my blazer," Lois answered, as she slammed him with a huge punch to the stomach. The thug hunched over, blood splashing from his mouth as he crumpled to the ground. He'd live although living would not be comfortable.

Clark picked up the third thug but suddenly his arms gave out and he staggered.

"Getting sloppy today, aren't we, Clark?" Lois asked as she speared one of the thugs into to the wall. She struck a pose.

"You enjoy this way too much," Clark fired back to Lois in a rather exasperated tone of voice.

"Of course, that's part of the fun of it," Lois stated, with a shit eating grin on her face as she searched around. She grabbed the fourth and final thug and flew through the opened doors, high up and into the air. "I don't know if you passed physics class, so I'll explain this to you in small words."

Lois paused for a moment as the terrified thug kicked and squirmed.

"I drop you, you go splat, okay?"

The thug kicked his legs, but Lois spun him upside down, so he could see exactly how far of a drop he had and that was not something that he wanted to go through any time soon.

"I don't know anything, I'm just….this was a dummy operation, some guy named Samson, he's your man, down by the docks, swear to God I'm not lying," the thug responded, as Lois placed him gently down, hanging him by his underpants from the flagpole.

"That wasn't so hard, was it?" Lois asked with a sweet smile as the thug let out a stream of obscenities towards her.

Lois dropped down to face Clark, who walked forward, huffing and puffing.

"Lois we got a problem," Clark managed, wheezing and out of breath as his arms and legs kicked.

"I'd say we do, that guy really has quite the mouth on him," Lois answered but she noticed everything.

"My powers, they're gone. Completely and utterly gone."

Lois paused before she opened her mouth and sighed. "Well that definitely constitutes as a problem."

* * *

"So, Alicia, are you settling back in after everything that's happened?" Harry asked her, as he sat next to Kara, Megan, and Thara in the Shining Light Foundation main lobby, in chairs behind the conference table.

Alicia shrugged her shoulders. "I'm….I'm coping. It's funny, before I died, I had no support."

Harry nodded, he could see why that would drive Alicia to some form of desperation, those who treated the meteor infected were downright criminal and often times exploitive. The wizard thought about the files of some of the patients in Belle Reve, some that were not the most balanced before getting put in but after having a few months of the treatment there, they were unhinged. There was a high mortality rate among the meteor infected.

"Well, you can stay at the Shining Light Foundation as long as you need to," Kara stated in a kind voice, trying to make the young woman who nearly married her cousin feel welcome.

Alicia appreciated it but then she figured that Clark's cousin would be as kind hearted as he was. Although she got a sense from Kara that her trust was not something that was earned that easily, which was something that she appreciated. After what she did, it was a wonder if anyone trusted her at all and she frowned at the thought.

A part of her dreaded running into Clark again but another part looked forward to running him again. It was a weird duel personality where she did not really know what she wanted. She guessed she would find out all too soon.

In fact it was sooner than she thought, as Lois and Clark burst through the Shining Light Foundation doors. If Clark had not been so flummoxed for the second, he would have noticed Alicia straight away.

"Hello, Shining Light Foundation, can I help you," Kara responded, annoyed at the state of the doors after Hurricane Clark blasted through them. Her cousin lacked many things lately but she supposed that his subtlety was something that was not going to be intact at the best of times or the worst of times.

Then she realized it was Lois who did that to the doors, and snickered at her mistake. She was so used at reaming out Clark for his carelessness that it was almost second hand to blame him.

Clark opened his mouth but stopped when he saw Alicia. After everything that happened, he should not have been surprised about someone coming back from the dead. Yet, he saw her and his eyes widened.

"Clark, long time no see," Alicia responded quietly in a nervous voice, hoping to break the ice between the two of them.

"Alicia?" Clark asked as he watched her, a bit confused, and a bit thrown off, this was a girl that he essentially married in Vegas before having it annulled. Then she was the first woman he ever trusted with his secret, so it was hard to figure out what happened.

"Talk about someone coming back from the dead or is this a haunting?" Lois asked, slowly deferring to Harry, as did Clark because neither of them had the slightest idea what was going on.

Harry decided to let them in on the secret.

"Well, funny story here. The higher ups brought a bunch of people back to life because Death screwed up and called their number before it was their time. Death has been impeached, imprisoned, and a new one is going to take her place at some undetermined point in the future. That's really about all I know, sorry if I skimped on the details a little bit, I really have loads to do."

Clark opened his mouth wide and shut it, mouth a gap. It took a while for his mind to process certain thinngs.

"You'd catch flies that way, Smallville," Lois joked as she watched him and Clark turned to Harry and Kara, they already saw the accusations in his eyes.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Sorry, Herald business, which is really none of yours, Kal," Kara responded in a slightly snippy tone of voice, sick and tired of her cousin acting the way he did. A sweet smile fixed her face as she watched Clark. "So why are you here to begin with?"

"My powers….my powers cut out."

Harry's face grew blank and stoic, an expression that Lois caught although Clark did not catch it. There was a pause between the two of them before he responded in a calm voice.

"Has this happened before?" Harry asked in a slow and calm voice, the expression in his eyes dead ahead and not betraying what he thought.

"Once before, by my father," Clark admitted and Harry waved his hand, giving Clark the opportunity to continue. "He did it because I didn't return to the Fortress before a certain time. It was his way of exerting his authority over me."

"I see," Harry responded, once again his expression was rather stoic and it was something that was grinding on Clark's nerves, how uncaring and stoic he seemed about this situation. It was almost like Harry didn't care that his powers were taken away from him.

Mostly because Harry had other pressing concerns and Clark oddly did not take precedence.

"You could restore them, couldn't you?" Lois asked, side stepping Clark before he asked them.

"I could, but I couldn't," Harry responded as he turned around, going back to the Shining Light Computers and he continued his work without another word.

Clark stepped forward and saw some of the documents on the desk. He picked one up and began reading them but Kara snatched them out of his hands, looking rather annoyed.

"Don't you know it's rude to read other people's things without their permission," Kara stated, annoyed that her cousin would do something so brazen but then again, she should not be so surprised all things considered, with the way he had been acting up lately.

Clark did not read that much but he read enough to realize that there was something going on that he should be privy to.

"There are others here like me…."

"Yes, Clark, there are, you knew that already, are you happy?" Kara asked with a slight roll of her eyes before she watched him, trying to gauge her cousin's reaction, it was just as she predicted it would be.

Clark suspected that there was something up, with the secretive way that Kara, Karen, and Harry acted but he had his own issues with his powers to worry about. So he pushed it out of the back of his mind until he was trying to figure out his own issues, no matter what.

There was one point that stuck out at Clark, practically smacking him in the face as he read it and his eyes scanned the paper, a mind numbing expression on his face, before he turned to them.

"Solar towers, what are they?" Clark asked, and Lois cringed, especially at the look that was on Harry's face.

"Luthorcorp project, need to know basis, don't worry about it," Harry answered in a crisp voice, annoyed at being questioned, especially given that Clark could ruin everything.

"But you're working with Zod, do you know how dangerous he is?" Clark asked and Thara took a moment to survey Clark. If this was Krypton, he would be beaten for speaking out of turn to Kara in such a way, given that she was the eldest member of the House of El.

Thara could tell that Kara was trying to hold back that urge so she tried to appease the situation.

"They know how dangerous he is, but you should stop seeing things in black and white, even your father wasn't this dense," Thara responded as she turned back to the computer, rolling her eyes at the thought of him.

Clark had a million protests.

"Wait down the hallway, third room to the right, and we'll see if I can do anything about restoring your powers," Harry responded as Clark nodded, he spun around, and walked off. Before Clark was completely gone, Harry gave him another word of advice. "Of course, there might be a reason why your powers were pulled from you in the first place."

That was not something that Clark wanted to hear but there was something that he needed to hear.

'_Was there?' _Megan asked, interjecting herself into the bond link and Kara paused.

'_Lara mentioned that if Clark didn't get his head straight, she would do something to him to make sure that he learned humility,' _Kara thought as Harry grabbed her hand underneath the table.

'_And do you think that's possible?' _Chloe asked, she was upstairs working but could pop in on the bond link every now and again.

'_I don't know,' _Kara admitted as she looked at the files. _'He's going to do something stupid, powers or not.'_

'_Now that he's here, we can figure out what he's doing,' _Karen thought as she told them over the mental link. _'I'll scan him for any neurological defects that could be causing this shift in attitude since he returned from near death.'_

'_It's appreciated,' _Harry stated over the bond link.

'_Of course, one could come to the conclusion that something's always been a bit off about him, given who his father is,' _Karen thought but Harry and Kara simply tutted, as if it to tell Karen not to go there. _'So, Kara, I'll see if there's anything wrong with your cousin.' _

Kara knew that when Clark acted up, as far Karen was concerned, he was her cousin.

Harry caught an incoming call through the bond link between Lana and Clark. He could catch all telepathic traffic coming in and out of the Shining Light Foundation and caught this one.

'_Clark, you're not going to believe this,' _Lana thought to who she assumed to be Clark.

'_Lana, your incoming telepathic traffic has been blocked, Clark's getting his mind checked out for anything that might have damaged him,' _Harry thought to her and Lana seemed flummoxed.

'_Oh, sorry, well….maybe you could help,' _Lana thought as she did not want to disturb Clark if there was something going on with his mind.

'_Do you think that I could?' _Harry thought to her.

'_Jor-El showed up at the Kent Farm,' _Lana stated over the communication link.

Whoosh went Kara, whoosh went Harry, and then Thara followed closely behind them, leaving Megan and Alicia standing there, the hair of both girls messed up.

"Dare, I ask?" Alicia asked with a shrug.

"It's better if you don't know," Megan responded, with a smile crossing her face.

* * *

Chloe started to file away the information she accumulated for Harry on the movements of the Kandorians. Also they were trying to track the movements of Sinclair and Lily but those two were resourceful enough to not be tracked. Plus there was Harry's mysterious female doppleganger that continued to elude them.

Watchtower was up and running, even if it was a powered down version of the Shining Light Foundation main interface, something half of the power of that could be a pretty powerful force indeed. The blonde continued to work, trying to track any weird movements, calibrating it for energy signatures that resembled Harry's.

As Harry reminded her, trying to find a female double of him was like trying to play chess with himself. He was going in a circle, around and around in an endless loop and where he stopped, well no one quite knew, did they?

A knock on the door brought Chloe out of her thoughts, and she saw a familiar face standing there.

"Well, I guess I'm back."

Chloe was only half paying attention to him but she offered him a polite greeting. "Hey Oliver, I thought you fell through the cracks."

"Well after….after what happened, I guess I needed some time off to get my head on straight," Oliver responded although he caught the dubious look that Chloe gave him through the reflective surface. "Or screw it off even more but the Green Arrow is back in town."

"Well, our group will be happy to have you back, if you're willing to work with us," Chloe responded as she clicked through the files, but put them away. This investigation was on a need to know basis. While Diana and J'onn were both trustworthy enough to assist, Oliver was a wild card that needed to earn his way back in. After the mess that he left her to deal with, Chloe did not feel too forgiving towards him. "In my league, I don't have any room for anyone who would skip out on us and not return phone calls or e-mail's for three months."

Oliver had the decency to look slightly sheepish for a moment but then he caught the full scope of what Chloe was saying.

"So wait….your league?" Oliver asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Yes, Oliver, my league," Chloe confirmed to him, knowing that this was going to be a confrontation of sorts that Oliver or her were not going to be happy with seeing but that was just going to be how it went. "While I'm sure we all appreciated you forming this team, we need more stable leadership."

Oliver nodded, it was hard to find fault to that.

"As one of the founding members, I'd figure…."

"You have a spot if you earn it but there's no room in it for dead weight," Chloe responded in a crisp voice, business like and professional. Harry, Kara, and Karen agreed that for the League to function, they need stronger leadership and the Green Arrow is not that person. "So, you're in, for now, Canary and Aquaman have the same offer if they ever want to come back. Impulse and Cyborg agreed to help out, although the membership is being changed."

Chloe ticked it off, Wonder Woman, The Martian Manhunter, Impulse, Cyborg, and Zatanna with Supergirl, Power Girl, and Arcane helping when they could but their Herald duties came first. And Clark she supposed, if he could ever get his head on straight. And then there was Batman who popped in every now and again to give a hand or two. And then there was her. She supposed that Lois, Lana, and Raya might be considered part timers as well, then they had Miss Martian, Raven, and Beast Boy too, reserve members that weren't part of the official League.

"So, I guess that I should be grateful that there was a spot for me open," Oliver stated in a light voice.

"Well, it's not like there is not like there's a finite number of spots in the group, we always do need warm bodies to be thrown out there," Chloe responded in a nonchalant tone of voice and Oliver turned towards her, eyebrow raised.

"So am I cannon fodder?"

Chloe did not answer, for she had been distracted by something more important. There was a blip, no make that two blips, actually she better check her math because there were three or four different blips, maybe more, heading onto the screen. The girl tapped into the blips, her eyes narrowing, drawing in a breath and letting it out.

"And we've got a problem," Chloe responded as she placed her hands on the side of her face and threw her head back.

"Oh, what, what kind of a problem?" Oliver asked as Chloe moved off. 'Maybe I can…"

"Trust me, this is something that you'd be way in over your head with," Chloe answered, not backing down and Oliver shrugged, far be it for him to argue with a point like that.

Although curiosity was something that got the better of him, but a shield appeared around the computer system, blocking Oliver or anyone else from getting any further.

'_Harry, problem,' _Chloe thought to him.

'_What kind of a problem?' _Harry thought as he and Kara were about at the Kent Farm now.

'_A magical type of problem,' _Chloe responded as she began to fill in Harry on the details. _'Five of them.'_

'_But are they five of the good kind or five of the bad kind,' _Kara thought as she crossed her arms and Chloe had no idea where to go from this direction.

'_We'll find out before too long,' _Harry responded but first they had a meeting with Jor-El at the Kent Farm. He tried to fortify the protections, even though a sufficiently strong witch or wizard would be able to break them.

* * *

Jor-El walked around the area of the Kent Farm, a smile on his face as all kinds of memories started to flood back to him. The place had not changed all that much over the last couple of years, that much was for sure. He remembered it just like it was yesterday and the smile crossed his face from the memories.

"So, you've visited here before?" Lana asked, trying to make conversation before Harry and the others showed up.

Jor-El hummed, looking at the photo there of the Kents.

"Yes, many years ago, although not much has changed," Jor-El responded, when he turned around. "Only the people living here."

"Yes, only the people living here," Lana responded in a conversational voice, but there was something about this entire situation that unnerved her.

Jor-El remained reflective, turning towards the window and watching out of it, seeing the beauty of the countryside around him. It offered a certain about of simplicity that he appreciated and was glad to see that his future self saw it fit to send his son here.

"Lana I…."

Clara stopped before she saw Jor-El standing before her that was something she never thought that she would see as long as she lived. Despite the fact that she did not have that much respect for him at all, he was still a larger than life figure.

"Jor-El," Clara responded as she watched Jor-El, keeping her eyes closely on him.

Jor-El stopped; she looked like a spitting image of his wife Lara when she was younger, only with dark hair. "You never told me that I had a daughter."

Lana neglected to tell Jor-El this fact, although technically as she reminded herself, Clara was not the daughter of Jor-El from this particular universe.

"Well, she's….she's a version of Clark, that is to say, Kal-El, from an alternate dimension," Lana explained in a careful voice as she watched Jor-El's reaction.

"No matter what is a pleasure to meet any child of mine," Jor-El responded, raising an eyebrow.

"Likewise," Clara piped in, not sure how to really react. Her relationship with Jor-El in her native dimension had not been that warm but she chalked that up to the flawed AI. She tried not to judge the man himself until he met him properly. She was not going to blindly trust him either.

Kara, Harry, and Thara entered the Kent Farm. Jor-El turned and looked towards Kara, recognition dancing through his eyes.

"Alura?"

Kara immediately heard what he said and knew that he mistook her for Alura. That could prove to beneficial for her and the blonde turned her eyes towards her uncle, a smile crossing her face as she watched him.

"Yes, Jor-El, you've found your way out of the orb," Kara responded with a straight face, giving him no hint of deception.

"And not a moment too soon, the Kandorians are on the move," Jor-El responded, sensing no deception.

'_Smooth, honey,' _Harry thought to Kara.

'_Thanks, we'll see what we can get him out of him and then I suppose we'll take him to Shining Light, so he can meet Kal,' _Kara thought to Harry as the two of them stood together, firmly shoulder by shoulder.

"What are they up to?" Kara asked as Jor-El offered a shrug.

"I'm afraid after the falling out we have had, I have no more insight on Zod and his schemes then the next person," Jor-El responded in a rather crisp tone of voice. "I do know that first and foremost on his mind is the restoration of his powers."

"A process that you may be able to do," Harry responded as Jor-El turned towards him.

"Your green eyes, they are familiar, there has been only one other figure through Kryptonian history that has such a shade but she left Krypton nearly a millennium ago," Jor-El responded but he got down to business. "Whilst I'm sure I can reverse the process, it might be at the expense of destroying the Kandorians. Of course, I'm not sure if that is the worst idea."

Thara felt compelled to speak up for her people. "Do not judge them all by Zod's example."

"Zod….Zod is a difficult one, I'd admit, this young lady brought me up to speed and even I never thought he could be twisted by his bitterness in such a way," Jor-El answered, rubbing his cheek as he thought about it. "I had thought…I had hoped that he would get over it. We were once great friends but it turned for the worst. All because I refused to bring his son back from the brink."

"The cloning process was dangerous with live cells, never mind dead cells," Kara answered as she watched Jor-El.

"Perceptive as always, Alura," Jor-El stated as he watched the blonde who smiled back at him. "I knew of the death of your sister and how it was difficult for you but you showed the strength to forge on. It is unfortunate that you were arranged to be married to my younger brother. Zor-El did have a certain mania, an obsession with my wife. Perhaps it would have been better for the marriage agreements to be swapped but Lara and I…if we had a son, we made the most out of the situation. I do not know if you and Zor-El had a child but I'm sure they would have turned out to be nothing better than the best."

Of course, it did not matter to Jor-El.

"Do you know whatever happened to you, the original you?" Jor-El asked as he watched Kara, who remained frozen for a moment.

"I haven't found out yet," Kara responded, she knew full well what happened but while she was willing to bring up the point with her mother with the AI version of Jor-El, she was a bit more uneasy bringing it up with this version.

"Well, perhaps you remained on Krypton until the end," Jor-El responded as he watched. "I need to make sure they do not have their hands on it. If our most sacred treasure falls into their hands then…."

"It won't, give it to me, I'll protect it," Kara responded, hoping that there was a chance that he would hand it over to her.

Jor-El shook his head.

'_Damnit, I should have known that it was not going to be that easy,' _Kara thought to Harry, who grabbed her hand tightly, with a smile crossing his face.

'_Unfortunate, but true,' _Harry thought to her, the blonde rocking her head back and forth, closing her head and giving a brief sigh.

"It has been hidden, don't worry, it will be found by the person it is meant to be found by," Jor-El responded as Harry and Kara's eyes turned towards each other.

'_Are you thinking what I'm thinking?' _Harry thought to Kara and she nodded.

'_It's hidden here in Smallville somewhere, maybe on this farm,' _Kara thought to him.

'_It's worth a shot,' _Harry responded mentally towards her but Thara turned around to see them.

"Something's out there," Thara responded to them and that was a statement that put them all on pins and needles.

* * *

A figure stood outside the farm, seeing it from the window. He reported back to his master ,pulling out a communicator. He twisted the knob and everything sparked back to life.

"He is here," the man responded over the link. "Awaiting your orders."

"Keep trailing him, we must find the Book of RAO," Zod responded over the communication link, keeping his voice. "It is important to complete the solar towers; it will allow us to achieve our birthright."

"Harry Potter is there," the scout responded and Zod remained silent.

"It is essential that you find the book before he does, then."

The scout responded with a nod. "It's understood and it will done. I won't fail you, you can bank on that."

"I better not be let down," Zod responded in a voice that dripped with warning.

* * *

A few feet away from them, another scout, with a different group of people was hidden in the bushes. He twisted the knob of the communication device and then held it to his mouth.

"Do you have it in sight?"

"I do but I'm not alone."

The garbled voice at the other end of the communication link remained silent for a moment before it struck out and began to speak to him. "The real question is whether or not you were seen?"

The scout turned his head, looking around, his heart keeping a steady beat against his chest but he shook his head, spinning around for a brief instant.

"No, I was not seen."

"You best not have been, it is imperative that we get our hands on this artifact. It will give me the key to omniscience. Those aliens should not wield such power. This Earth will be cleansed, by the will of the demon head and the League of Shadows."

"Understood, master," the second scout stated, knife at the ready, ready to make his move. He got here a little late so he was unable to find where this book was hidden, only that it was somewhere on the grounds.

* * *

A third scout from a ways away chimed in in a cool voice, her tone rather icy. She held a mirror in her hand, instead of a communication device but the same idea was in place.

"We have it."

"It is there."

"I'm trying to track it but its energy signature is being blocked, there is something that is interfering with my efforts."

Her contact at the other end remained crisp and cool. "Make sure you find it."

"I'll find it, there's no need to worry," the blonde stated icily, as she shifted into the shadows and waited for the right moment to strike. A pair of Zod's Kandorian scouts walked by her, and there were four more stationed around the farm.

There were about six or seven representatives of the League of Shadows hiding, using stealth. The Kent farm was getting a bit crowded and there was going to be a rumble out there. The young woman responded.

"If either The Kandorians or the League of Shadows get their hands on the Book of RAO, we can kiss the world goodbye," the voice responded on the other end of the communication device.

"Understood," the young girl clasping her hands, so far everything that was prophesized in the Rowena Covenant was coming to pass, except for the cataclysm. The cataclysm they would prevent, if they got their hands on the Book of RAO.

It was a race.

"Be careful Astoria, Harry cannot understand until the time is right. I just hope he'll forgive me for what we have to do."

"Well, we're going to have to earn his forgiveness later, Hermione," Astoria responded as the two of them. "Any word from….our benefactor."

"Not one," Hermione responded in a fretful voice. "But she's playing hard and fast. It's all about making sure the Traveler does not fall to the darkness. This is his final trial before he arrives and as for Harry…."

"He will be the failsafe in case he does," Astoria concluded, everything clicking around into place. Given what she saw of Kal-El, he was not that impressive but perhaps she did not give him an ample chance to showcase his talents. "By the end of the day, we'll have the book or it will be the beginning of the end. We've gotten our second chance, we best not squander it. I doubt we'll get a third."

"Understood, over and out."

* * *

Creek, creek, creek that was the sound that they heard, of the swing moving from one side to the next, over to the next side. Thara Ak-Var stepped forward, her enhanced hearing picked up sounds, voices, muffled, from miles away.

Kara and Harry left the Kent Farm behind Thara, as Karen gave them a progress update on what was happening with Kal.

'_Clark is mostly checked out, he's fine….well fine as he's ever going to be, although he's not getting his powers back until his attitude improves,' _Karen thought to them.

'_And when do you think that's going to happen?' _Harry asked but it was Rachel who chimed in in a sardonic manner over the bond link.

'_Well judging by his recent character, somewhere in between when pigs fly, and in a snowball's chance,' _Rachel commented softly.

'_That's actually pretty accurate,' _Harry remarked to her through the bond link but Thara stood still.

"There's someone here,' Thara whispered to them, so only people with super hearing could hear.

Jor-El bolted from the barn, despite being told that he should stay there. Lana followed him, exasperated, knowing now where Clark got it from, she really did.

Harry pulled the figure out of the bushes; she wore a black hooded sweatshirt and jeans, with her blonde hair tied back. Jor-El paused, looking like he saw a ghost.

"Lara?"

Harry decided to relay the message now.

'_Have Lois get Clark to the Kent Farm now,' _Harry thought to Karen before he switched over. _'Have you traced those magical energy signatures yet, Chlo?" _

'_There is one about a hundred yards from where you're standing,' _Chloe responded.

'_Keep a look out, make them come to us,' _Harry thought to Kara and Kara nodded.

The game was afoot.

The real question was who was playing who and who was on whose side?

**To Be Continued. **


	12. Chapter 12: Family Reunion

**Chapter Twelve: Family Reunion. **

Lara's eyes opened and shut as she tried to get used to this unsettling situation. To be honest, she did not know where she was and that could be a slight problem. The blonde woman stood on her feet and her bright blue eyes were opened as she turned to Jor-El, who stood before her. She did not really have the most stable relationship with her new husband, although they tried to make the most out of the situation that had been forced on them by their two families.

"Lara," Jor-El stated for a second time in a professional and brisk tone of voice.

"Jor-El, it is good to see that you are in optimal health," Lara responded in a calm voice, wondering what was going on here. She had a feeling that she would find out about it all too soon. As of right now, she kept her eyes focused on Jor-El and her breath flowing in and out.

"It is excellent to see you are here as well," Jor-El responded as he looked at her. "But, you should not be here."

"And why shouldn't I be here?" Lara asked but she turned towards Harry and Kara. "Alura, is that you?"

"Actually….." Kara responded but Lara moved over to hug what she thought to be her friend. The blonde wrapped in the embrace, which lingered for a moment of time, before she broke apart.

"It's so good to see you again, I thought…but it doesn't matter," Lara responded as she planted a light kiss on Kara's forehead which caused Harry to watch them, rather intently. Lara spun around, a smile crossing her face. "Well Alura, aren't you going to introduce me to your friend?"

Kara smiled, seeing Lara checking out Harry, not really paying any mind to Jor-El as he stood there. Of course, they hadn't been married for a couple of decades like they were towards the end of Krypton. Although the more the blonde thought about it, there was a certain amount of formality towards their marriage that she noticed more and more as she thought about it.

"This is Harry….and there's something that I've got to tell you," Kara responded as she closed her eyes. Spitting this little statement out was going to be a bit harder than she thought it was going to be before.

Jor-El, even without super powers, was what one might call observant. He had what humans would call a touch of OCD and therefore he noticed when things were off. He craned his head, frowning as he looked towards the bushes, watching everyone shift around him.

"There's someone here."

Harry figured that was the case and Kara stood rigid. Even Lana, who stepped out onto the steps, watched with a careful expression on her eyes.

"Get inside, please, both of you, and don't open the door for anyone," Kara stated in a tense voice as she ushered Jor-El and Lara into the Kent Farm. Her breath became extremely labored as she inhaled and exhaled before her eyes locked with those of her husband's.

'_So, we're going to have a problem,' _Kara thought to Harry and the wizard nodded.

'_Big problem, there are at least three scouts I can see,' _Harry thought to himself. _'And that's on top of those that I can't see out there.'_

'_Wonderful,' _Kara thought, focusing her X-Ray vision a little bit but her eyes twitched open to see there were people stirring in the shadows. They were moving around to avoid detection but with her super powers, they were not fast enough.

Kara edged around one side and Harry edged around the other side. The super powered coupled prepared to box in their enemies and take them down one at a time.

One of them pulled a weapon on them but Kara aimed her heat vision at the attacker. It cut through the air and burned the weapon in his hand. The blonde propelled herself forward like a corkscrew and nailed her enemy in the hard in the face, sending him flying backwards with a thunderous impact. The enemy slumped to the ground and rolled over, massaging his jaw.

There was another enemy down but there was another one that was still there to go. Harry jumped into the fray, before he twisted his wrist and sent his enemy flying down to the ground. Two ankles rolled from one side to the next and the enemy crashed awkwardly to the side, shattering his elbow from the impact.

The third attacker tried to flee but Thara used a wall of flames to block his escape. He bounced back and this allowed Kara to fly towards her enemy and nail her enemy with a rocket buster of a punch, knocking him out cold. The enemy fell to the ground with a solid clatter and Kara spun around, arms folded and a bright smile crossing her face as she looked back towards Thara.

"That was a nice one," Kara stated in an approving voice.

"Thanks, but don't look now, another one is trying to escape through the back door," Thara stated in a fretful voice but it was Lana who flew forward and tripped up the adversary to the best of her abilities.

"And that was a pretty good one, as well," Kara responded with a bright smile that went across her face which Lana returned.

"Thank you, I've been practicing," Lana stated, looking rather pleased with herself.

The thug was laying on his face and to be fair and honest, he had seen better days. In fact all of them saw far better days but they had been knocked around a fair bit. Harry spun the thug around and held him up, holding him in the air by his ankle. The thug swung like a pendulum, as Harry prepared to talk to him.

Kara, Thara, and Lana did a sweep of the outer area of the farm but found no one. If they were there, they were gone now.

"Nothing?" Harry asked them but they shook their heads. Harry kept his jaw set as he turned to the figure hovering from one side to the next above the ground. He performed a few charms and now it was time to wake him up.

* * *

Lois and Clark arrived at the farm a little bit late to the party all things considered and both of them paused for a moment, feeling themselves shaken a little bit. First Lois stood up and watched the situation that manifested itself around her.

An armored thug spun upside down and Harry and Kara were about to interrogate him.

"What is that guy doing here?" Lois asked as Clark inclined his head. Without his powers, he felt extremely vulnerable with them.

"That's what we're trying to figure out," Lana stated as she watched him, and saw Harry and Kara about to rip him to shreds. "You know, it might be a good idea if you're going to talk because I don't think I can hold these two back much longer."

"Forget it, I'll never talk," the thug responded, as he watched Lana and a snarl appeared on his lips. What was she going to do to him anyway?

"Oh, you'll talk, even if I have to pull the words out of your vocal cords," Harry remarked in a crisp voice.

"Yes, you wouldn't want me to start breaking bones, would you?" Kara asked, grabbing his finger and bending it back with a loud crack, which caused the individual in question to scream out in agony.

"You better fess up what you were doing quickly," Lana told him in a calm voice as she watched them.

"You can't get anything out of me…." the thug stated, trying to bite down but the cyanide filling he had in his tooth was not there.

"You're dental plan has been cancelled, a pity," Harry responded with a smile. Switching spells were rudimentary but damned if they were not effective more often than not. A smile crossed Harry's face and it was easy to see why many feared Harry. He could be quite scary if his mind was set to it. "So, now that's out of the way, along with the two poisons that you've had on your body and the explosive device, maybe you should tell us."

The thug was bold and Kara grabbed his hand.

"You can kill me but I will serve the great one forever and a day!" the thug stated but Harry held his tongue in place with a magical charm.

Clark frowned as he stood there beside them.

"Don't you think that's a bit much?"

Harry sighed; Clark and his idealism sometimes did get in the way from getting what needed to be done, done. The wizard was not about to argue or belabor the point about it. Instead he essentially ignored Clark and kept his eyes on the thug. Lois held Clark's arm, because he didn't have the powers to safe guard himself against doing something stupid.

"So, who sent you here?" Harry asked.

Kara had another question. "What are you after?"

The man spat at Kara but suddenly he felt a burning sensation through his eye.

"You better learn some respect, it's a virtue that you'll need before you die," Harry responded, crossing his arms. "So, what were you after?"

There was silence before he added.

"Don't make me ask you again!"

The thug shuddered, this young man, he was rather scary all things considered. The thug swayed a little bit in the air, moments away from being cut down but he stayed the course.

"Fine, the great one believes….that your little book of RAO has the ability to cleanse the earth of the wicked."

"The Book of RAO?" Clark asked, this was the first he ever heard of it but Kara hushed him and turned towards the thug, her eyes narrowing.

"How does he know of the Book of RAO?" Kara asked in an icy voice, her eyes narrowed with a glint.

The thug struggled for a moment but he snapped his eyes towards them.

"I do not ask such questions, I merely do what I need to ensure that the master's will has been carried out," the thug responded as he tried to twist out of the bindings but found himself completely unable to.

Kara frowned; she really wanted to know how a human terrorist, even one like Ra's Al Ghul, would even come across a reference to the Book of RAO. Even by Kryptonian knowledge, the actual purpose of the book did have some vague properties behind it. The blonde frowned, shifting her shoulders for a moment but her thoughts remained puzzled and unclear.

Harry thought along the same things, this book, whatever it was, for lack of a better term, was dangerous.

'_Checking for information on the Book of RAO,' _Harry thought, even though he knew what was going to happen.

'_Inconclusive information,' _the lifeline reader fired back.

'_You motherfucker,' _Harry thought wishing to bang his head against something.

'_Harry, its okay…we'll figure it out,' _Kara told him, grabbing his hand.

'_Yeah…I'm sure there is a reason,' _Karen thought to herself before closing her eyes. _'And the higher ups are no better than Death.'_

'_Meet the old boss, same as the new boss,' _Chloe chimed in through the bond link.

'_Yes, I can imagine your frustration,' _Diana agreed as she sat there. _'Do you need any back up…'_

'_Not at the moment, but stand by,' _Harry told her.

'_Will do,' _Diana responded over the communication link, sensing her bonded's frustration.

'_Chlo, see if you can track those magic users that have gone off the radar," _Harry responded to her and there was a few seconds while the link went silent.

'_Nothing….they dropped off the map….and off the world,' _Chloe thought frowning.

'_That's impossible…" _Karen thought before she mentally trailed off. _'Unless.'_

'_I'm playing chess with myself again,' _Harry thought in an agitated tone.

Clark edged towards the barn and Kara moved over. There was still a bit of tension in the air between her and Clark. Never the less, the blonde tried to remain rather cool and collected before she drew in her breath.

"Clark, meet Jor-El and Lara, your parents," Kara responded, nodding her head towards them.

Clark did not know what to say, his parents stood there, in the flesh and not as some kind of AI constructs. It seemed almost too good to be true and it likely was. The Last Son of Krypton stared them down.

"My son, you are as I would have imagined," Jor-El stated as he watched him. "I trust you have used your powers well."

"Up until today," Clark responded in frustration.

"You should have…unless your powers have been corrupted by some kind of blue meteor rock or even golden," Lara responded as she watched Clark, although she did wonder if he could be her son. Although he did look much like Jor-El and there were traces of her in his face, so she supposed he might as well be her son.

"My powers were taken away, I don't know how, they just were," Clark responded as he watched them.

"With the Kandorians around, this is a serious situation, as without your powers, you will not be able to properly defend yourself," Jor-El remarked in a crisp tone of voice which caused Clark to stand up straight and take some kind of notice. "I'm not judging that you are unable to defend yourself without your powers but…."

"Inside the farm, until we figure this out," Lara responded, the three of them did not have powers so they were the most vulnerable for attacks.

* * *

"If I may hazard a guess, I made my AI in such a matter not to blind me to what needed to be done," Jor-El theorized but that was quite a puzzling notion. There was this fact that he created an AI to potentially guide his son and then it did not work as well as it should have. That was a huge problem and one that Jor-El wished to hammer out before too long.

Clark wondered what his father was.

"Or that was what you become much like Zod," Clark stated, unable to resist.

Lara perked up at the mention of Zod and she wondered about him.

"Dru-Zod is a complex man and it pained me to not be able to help him," Jor-El commented in a crisp tone of voice.

"Zod destroyed Krypton and killed countless," Clark argued and Lana gave him a look as if to tell him to calm down.

"Zod is the monster that I may have made him," Jor-El argued, shaking his head.

"How could you say something like that?" Kara asked, she was not the biggest fan in the world of Jor-El but the fact of the matter was, it was rather curious that this younger version was taking responsibility for what Zod turned out be.

Jor-El remained pensive for short while before he sighed in. His breath was long but he spoke after a time.

"I could have brought him back but I warned Zod of the risks and they outweighed the benefits," Jor-El responded as he turned around. "But perhaps we have been given a second chance to make a second impression."

"Do not confuse the issue, Jor-El, Zod always had the ability to be like that,' Lara argued as she folded her arms, her husband wanted to see the best out of people but sometimes there was not any goodness to be seen out of some people. That was simply the fact of the matter and something that Jor-El would learn to accept.

There was no response for Jor-El for a moment and he turned his head around and watched out the window. Lois and Lana noticed him watching and Raya let herself in.

Raya stopped herself for a second and saw Jor-El sitting there, younger than he was but she sighed for a second.

"Clara and I have been scouting around the property lines, some of Zod's scouts scrambled in the other direction when we saw them," Raya informed them.

Clark clutched his fists, feeling absolutely useless as he sat there without his powers.

"Zod knows that I'm here," Jor-El said in a pained voice as he watched before he turned his head towards the outside of the window.

"We don't know that he knows," Kara answered but Thara grabbed her by the hand and shook her head.

"We should assume that he does," Thara responded and Jor-El nodded.

"Let's move," Kara stated as she switched to the bond link.

'_Karen, are you there?' _Kara thought to her bonded.

'_Yes, I'm there,' _Karen agreed through the bond link, clutching her hands. _'Outside with Clara and….I see where they are.'_

'_So, let's get over there and show them what's up,' _Kara thought as she flew forward, keeping herself next to them.

These scouts, trained personally by Zod, were among the best in what they did. Kara, Karen, and Harry saw one of them making a run for it, the other ones had long since gotten away.

Clara zoomed in, showing her mettle by freezing the feet of her adversary and brought him down to the count. He was stuck on the ground and tried to pull himself free but despite that fact, he was unable to get free.

"Okay, this has been a long day, so try and make it easy on yourself, okay?" Harry asked, folding his arms and staring down at the individual that he caused to sway in his hands, holding him up.

They never made it easy on themselves but Harry thought that he should know this by now.

"We will never betray Zod…."

There was a squeezing motion as Harry wrapped a hand around the man's throat.

"Do you make this entire harder on yourself than it already is?" Harry asked as he narrowed his eyes. "You best speak, time is running out, for you."

The man twitched, hanging upside down and Harry waited but said nothing. This individual was going to be a tough nut to crack and he was going to have to resort to more deadly elements to crack him. The young wizard watched his adversary hang upside down.

"May I?"

Lara offered that in a sweet and innocent voice that made the entire group wonder what she was going to do. She reared back for a moment and punched him hard in the kidneys from behind.

There was a loud scream of agony as the man swung from his feet, extremely pained and in misery.

"Don't worry, I didn't hit anything vital," Lara stated before she offered a sweet and faux innocent smile towards the enemy. "Well vital for your comfort levels at least but you will live."

The blonde continued to give a sweet little smile and Clara was pleased about how awesome her mother was.

"What are you doing?" Harry asked as he turned away from Lara.

The scout nodded his head up and down in a frantic manner that woman was rather crazy and he did not want to be at her mercy ever again.

"The book, he's after the book, I swear, he says that it can be used to destroy us."

Lara knew that Zod said that but whether that had any truth to those words she had no idea. There was only one person who had a clear idea and she had a feeling getting the truth out of him was going to be much like squeezing blood from a turnip.

"Did he now?" Lara asked as she knocked him out and Harry, Karen, and Kara sprinted him off of the property lines.

The blonde's mind was going into overdrive for a moment before she turned around towards them, her jaw set.

"We need to speak with Jor-El about this."

"We've got other problems too," Kara responded, wondering if this day could get any worse, because it most certainly was not going to get any better.

* * *

"I'm tapping into the satellites and I think that I've got something, some kind of visual," Chloe responded over the communication link but Clark caught this one straight away.

"What do you mean satellites?"

Chloe offered a long and labored sigh; she knew that there was going to be trouble when the "S-word" was brought up. The tiny blonde plowed on through like she had not heard Clark.

"I'm seeing some heat signature that was at the Kent Farm but it popped away, it's like playing tag blindfolded," Chloe responded before offering a pause before Kara jumped in.

"Or playing chess with yourself."

"Or that, yes," Chloe agreed as she tapped into the computers of the Shining Light Foundation and tried to click in a visual on the satellite array.

"Wait, you can see everything that's going around us?" Clark asked in a voice dripping with accusations but Harry sighed.

He was so not in the mood to deal with Clark now.

"Yes, we can," Harry responded in a tense voice as he waited for Chloe to relay it back.

Lana chimed in, having been silent until that moment. "Truly big brother….rather big sister is watching."

"It is to keep tabs on any potential Undesirable activity, although it does have other uses to make sure certain people don't go off the grid," Harry responded as Lara turned to him and to Clark.

"It is not any slight on you, I'm certain, but sometimes when you are in a war, you need to use unsavory means to win," Lara responded, her father told her this when she contested one of his methods in the past.

Clark could not believe he was hearing those words come out of the mouth of his own mother but she threw her hands into the air, making a defensive motion with her hands. The blonde was not about to back down from a fight and she kept her eyes on her son to be.

"If you hope to win any battle in life, especially if it is for your life, you will learn that well," Lara stated as she kept her eyes fixed beadily on her son who stared back at her, not backing down for an instant.

"There is doing the right thing," Clark said as he watched her. "Watching people is…"

"Moral ethics later, right now we've got a big problem on our hand, the fact that half of the world seems to be obsessed with this little bitty book, whatever it is," Lois responded as she watched Jor-El.

Jor-El shifted, a motion that was noticed by Harry and Kara both.

"You know something about this, don't you?" Kara asked and it was Karen who chimed in as she kept her eyes on Jor-El.

Jor-El was someone who did not falter under pressure but he remained standing on his feet, proud and ready to go despite being thrown in that pressure cooker.

"If you hid it…."

"I had it, but I do not know where it is now," Jor-El responded in a delicate voice. "But even if I did, it should not fall into the wrong hands."

Harry was not buying that one for a moment and he knew; oh boy he knew that Jor-El was trying to sell them a bill of goods. Although what that bill of goods was, Harry had no idea whatsoever but he kept a calm demeanor, he would find out what Jor-El was doing in due time. The entire mess felt rather fishy and Harry was not about to say anything against what Jor-El said until the time came.

"Well wherever it is, we'll find it," Lana responded, speaking up for Clark.

'_I'm hazarding a guess it's somewhere in Smallville,' _Karen thought to them.

'_Call it a crazy hunch but you might be right,' _Kara thought as she put her hands against each other and threw her head back.

This was going to be a long day, she just felt it, she had no idea why but she felt it. Now it was trying to get some kind of damage control together with the blonde turning her head around and rubbing her eyes.

"I believe it's time to see what your future self had in mind," Kara suggested, curious to see who would be more stubborn, Jor-El or Jor-El.

"Do you think that is wise?" Lara asked with a raised eyebrow.

"You're there as well," Harry responded and Lara was surprised. "And your personality is so much more appealing than Jor-El's was."

Lara smiled and Clark wondered if his lack of his powers were getting to him. Not only were his mother (a younger clone of his mother who was barely older than Clark, he remind himself) was flirting with Harry but Jor-El seemed to be rather apathetic about the entire situation. There were sometimes where Clark wondered about his father.

"What's up with them?" Clark whispered to Lois.

"I'll tell you later, Smallville, it might fry your brain," Lois answered with a smug smile.

Clark shook his head and Harry spun around.

"Fortress, it's just as well, we should take you there, at least so we can figure this all out," Harry concluded and the group all nodded, before they prepared to do what they needed to do. "It would be easier to transport out of the farm house, because if we get caught by anyone outside, we're going to be put back a few steps."

He pulled out a Portkey.

"This should get us here, just one touch and it will transport us off," Harry stated.

"Fascinating technology," Jor-El responded with an impressed expression in his eyes and Harry did not even bother to correct him.

Clark hoped to get to know his father better, his real father, when all of this blew over. His mother as well, but after Raya told him that his father was a much different person than the AI abomination at the fortress, Clark could not help but be a bit curious.

The Portkey took them off and they disappeared into a flash of light.

* * *

"Jor-El say hello to Jor-El or have you two already met?" Kara inquired in a joking manner but she had to plug in the vocalization crystal.

Jor-El, the AI version was a bit miffed at being locked out of his own Fortress so he did not respond to that statement.

"What happened to my powers, Jor-El?" Clark asked him, immediately.

"My son, I have done nothing with your powers," Jor-El, the AI responded.

"No, it was not Jor-El's decision, it was mine," Lara, the AI stated.

"Why would you…."

"Kal-El, it is within your grasp to restore your powers but there is a certain lesson that I hoped to impart on you and that's humility," Lara responded as she gazed at her son through the crystal "eye" so to speak. "You have allowed your belief that you can get away with much run away with you. It has allowed you to become self-righteous."

"What do I need to do to restore my powers?" Clark demanded and Lara was silent.

"You. Need. To. Learn. Hu-mil-i-ty!' Lara repeated herself putting an emphasis on each syllable like her son was a small child and Clark's expression swam with frustration. "I believe that was already established."

"Humility is a virtue, yes," Lara, the clone, stated as she watched Clark. "Then again, being self-righteous is something that runs smack dab in the middle of the house of El."

"All too true," Lara, the AI, agreed, pleased that her younger self was gaining some perception.

Both Jor-Els were miffed that they were being talked about like they weren't even in the room but there was a sound in the distance.

Kara dashed forward and grabbed the figure in the shadows. The parka hood dropped down, to reveal her face and blonde hair.

"That's…you're the one that I saw!" Lois yelled, piping up for the first time.

"Alura?" Jor-El asked in confusion, turning from Kara to Alura.

"I'm Alura's daughter, Kara, and this is my mother," Kara stated with a smile on her face. "You don't know that you've had a daughter, did you?"

"I learned of it some time ago but I have no memories of you, other than this conversation that we are having," Alura stated, as she reached forward and pulled her daughter into a warm hug with Kara returned. "I wish this meeting could be a bit more joyous."

"I thought it was pretty joyous," Kara responded, seeing her mother, young and most importantly alive once again. Karen smiled, even if it was not technically her universe's version of Alura, she still felt a sense of kinship. "This is Karen, she's an older version of me from an alternate universe, don't ask."

Lara, both the AI and the clone, snickered as Alura cracked a smile.

"So, I guess that will would make you my daughter as well," Alura responded as she hugged Karen as well.

"I'd like that," Karen responded, not able to keep the smile off of her face.

Alura turned, seeing the dark haired and green eyed young man standing before her and a smile crossed her face as she studied his features. She quite liked what she saw and the blonde opened her mouth.

"So who is this?"

"I'm Harry, Kara and Karen's husband," Harry responded as he reached forward and took Alura's hand, shaking it.

She raised an eyebrow in surprise but recovered quickly.

"Among others," Kara offered, not able to resist.

Alura's mind went into overdrive; Harry must have been a powerful young man, given that he would have a collective. Then again, it was hard not to see why several women would feel the need to be with him as she looked up and down his body.

"We need to take this Fortress and shut it down," Alura responded as she locked her eyes onto Jor-El's.

"Shut it down?" Jor-El asked, both the man and the AI.

"It poses a danger should Zod acquire it," Alura responded, hoping that her words would get through.

"He hasn't acquired it yet," Clark protested but his aunt smiled at him.

"If he didn't, he will," Alura responded as she spun around, they did not know the gravity of the situation.

"We are working on a way to keep it out of his hands but we need more time then we have," Thara commented and Kara turned towards her.

"You knew where my mother was, and you didn't tell me?" Kara asked, her voice dripping with hurt.

Thara looked apologetic but Kara turned around, in frustration, unable to believe that her friend would not tell her the simple truth.

"So who is Kara's father?" Alura asked, trying to steer the conversation away from these awkward waters.

Little did Alura know that she spun the conversation around into even more awkward waters.

"Zor-El," Lara, the AI, chimed in.

Alura's eyebrows raised and she was flummoxed. There was only one question that passed her mouth.

"Was I brain dead?"

* * *

The Kent Property was completely abandoned which left it ripe and open for a robbery. The figure stepped in, dressed in a black trench coat, a scarf, and gloved hands, as she reached forward, and pulled back a board.

It glinted beneath her and the eyes widened, a bit of pink hair sticking out from underneath the hood and she picked up the Book of RAO and pocketed it, before she vanished with a silent pop, just as a group of shadowed assassins moved in.

"Search the barn, this is our only chance," a dark haired woman in a green cloak stated as they went to search for the Book of RAO.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter "Snatched Away" On July 23****rd**** 2013.**


	13. Chapter 13: Swept Away

**Chapter Thirteen: Swept Away.**

"I don't know about you, but I feel rather vulnerable without my powers, I need a way to restore them as soon as possible," Clark stated, pleading, almost desperate, it was bad enough that he was the weakest with them. Now without them, he is even weaker.

Harry said nothing but mentally he was shaking his head. He doubted very much that Clark was really getting all of what was being conveyed to him. His powers were taken away for a reason, to teach him a lesson and without learning that lesson, Harry was pretty certain that said powers were not going to return unless Clark learned exactly what was being taught to him.

"Humility."

That was the one word that was repeated by Lara once more and it was the one word that she hoped would sink into her son's head. It was a lesson that many people needed to learn the hard way and she feared that if her son did not learn it too soon, then he might never learn it. His development stunted in several way.

"I feel rather humble standing here without my powers," Clark countered as he crossed his arms.

Jor-El, the clone, turned to his son and offered him a reassuring smile. "Kal, son, Kryptonians have gotten on more than fine without super powers for generations. Perhaps it is a blessing in disguise that you are learning how to cope without your god-like abilities. And humans have done so likewise."

The clone paused, before he looked extremely thoughtful.

"It is not the strength of body that matters but the strength of your mind and that is one think that you have in spades, Kal-El."

Clark took a moment to think about this, he was sure that his father was right but perhaps he was too stubborn to admit that. Although he struggled to think of what inner strength that he had and wondered what his purpose was. There was times where his father, his AI father, went on about some greater purpose, some greater destiny but he wondered what that was. The young Kryptonian turned and sighed.

"You okay?" Lana asked and Clark shook his head.

"Of for crying out loud, listen Clark!" Lois yelled, finally losing her patience with the way he had been acting. "You're not pathetic because of the fact you don't have powers. No, that doesn't make you pathetic, what makes you pathetic is the way you're acting because you don't powers. You're acting like you're about ready to give up and die."

Alura was the next one who spoke.

"Powers do not define you, Kal-El, you define them. Remember that. And the true power of a Kryptonian is not how they succeed at their strongest, but how well they adapt being while at their weakest."

"In other words, pull your head out of your ass and quit feeling sorry for yourself," Karen chimed in as she glared at her cousin, no Kara's cousin, because when he acted like this, he was most certainly Kara's cousin and not hers.

Kal crossed his arm but there was another situation that presented itself.

"I've detected a few life forms that are moving around the Artic," Jor-El, the AI, stated before he spoke once again in a superior tone of voice. "You have compromised this Fortress, and may have lead Zod's forces here."

"It was a mistake and mine to bear," Jor-El, the clone, stated, he was very much annoyed by how cold and unforgiving his AI counterpart was being towards this situation.

"Kal-El needs to learn that his actions have consequences," Jor-El, the AI, stated in a harsh tone of voice.

Jor-El, the clone, had a scowl of annoyance cross over his face.

"Kal-El does have much to learn but I do wonder if the way you are acting, is impairing his development," Jor-El, the clone, responded, wondering if he would have to stick around to oversee his son's training personally because his AI counterpart was not cutting the mustard.

He did wonder what possessed him to make an AI to be this condescending and dare he say it, egotistical.

"This is a futile argument and a circular one and it solves nothing," Lara, the AI chimed, annoyed by both Jor-El's at this moment, although the clone was a bit more tolerable than the AI version of the father of her son, just slightly however.

Although humans had a saying that those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and that was what the AI version of Jor-El was doing to the clone version and vice versa.

"The Fortress is more protected now than it's ever been before," Kara responded, trying to be the voice of reason but she removed Jor-El's vocalization crystal again, because she had her fill of him. "You can believe that we'll keep it out of unsavory hands."

'_But there's something else that we have to do,' _Kara thought to Karen and Karen nodded.

'_Yeah, there's the book of RAO,' _Karen thought back to them with a long sigh and she switched.

'_Do you think Jor-El was telling the truth?' _Harry asked them.

'_Wording is very important with Jor-El, he doesn't have the book now but he could later,' _Kara thought with a smile crossing her face. _'Or rather he did before.'_

'_So he had it but now he doesn't, that's about right,' _Karen thought, but naturally this was typical Jor-El. Even as a person, he had a greater agenda and a greater plan and did not share it with the lesser mortals.

'_What's your mother up to anyway?' _Harry thought to Kara and the blonde shrugged her shoulders lightly.

'_I really have no idea,' _Kara thought and that was really the most honest answer she could have made. The blonde really had no idea what her mother's game was, if anything.

"We'll check to see if everyone has left the barn," Kara responded, as Karen and Harry flew off with each other, cloaked in invisibility so none of them could be seen.

The others moved around in the Fortress, with Jor-El and Clark walking off in the other direction, and Lois and Lana keeping an eye on them. This left Lara alone to talk with Lara.

"It appears that we were destined to marry someone who had his own obsessions," Lara, the clone, responded, to be honest, she was not too thrilled about her husband. "Although the fact that we have a son….I suppose things worked out in the end."

"In a matter of speaking," Lara, the AI, replied crisply as she took a deep breath or what passed as a deep breath for an AI.

"What do you mean?" Lara, the clone, asked, confused.

"Well we had our marriage, and I'll be lying if I didn't have some good memories and our son….despite his recent attitude….was one of the acceptable outcomes that came out of it," Lara, the AI, stated, before she reflected. "Jor-El used a flawed transference process to remove his emotions for reasons that still baffle me to this day. Perhaps he wishes to win an award for the worst father in the twenty eight galaxies. But never the less, he was capable of some rather questionable decisions, even before that time."

Lara frowned.

"He used blue Kryptonite to corrupt the orb, but there is a chance they could reverse the curse and gain their powers back, stronger than ever, it was almost like he wanted to ease his own conscience," Lara responded in a cryptic voice, the AI looking towards her younger clone, for lack of a better term, through the crystal structure.

"I think that I could….maybe guide him so he doesn't become this," Lara, the clone, stated in a nervous voice but there was something that did not appear in her voice as she said this.

Conviction, she lacked it.

"Do not fool yourself," Lara, the AI, told her firmly. "You deserve better. And I'm sure you realize that better than anyone. You deserve someone who will allow your talents grow and not be entombed in a politically motivated marriage. I somehow made it work but I sometimes wonder if that was just because of my stubbornness to do so and I bemoan about the time lost."

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying that just because Jor-El and I remained married for years, that's in the past, and you have options," Lara, the AI, responded. "Think about it, it's not too hard. He is the savior of the Kryptonian race."

Lara, the clone, thought about it and she had a lot to think about.

* * *

Three blurs shot through the air like corks towards the Kent Farm. All three Heralds of Death had looks of determination etched upon their faces. They made their way towards the Kent Farm and already saw that there was someone here. Despite the protections put on the house, someone managed to take them down.

'_League of Shadows again, really?' _Kara thought to herself, throwing her head for a moment and offering a long sigh. _'Didn't we put the kibosh on these guys enough today?'_

'_Guess it didn't keep, I'll be there in a little bit, in case you need any back up, the threats are piling up,' _Diana thought.

'_Besides, you're itching for a fight, aren't you?' _Karen thought and there was no response from Diana, although the blonde had her pegged rather well.

Things were quiet, a bit too quiet, so the three Heralds understood one thing and that was to proceed with the utmost of caution, and that's what they did as they made their way into the barn.

'_So where are they hiding the book?' _Harry thought to Kara and Karen, both girls shrugged, frowns crossing their faces.

They were going to have to track down the whereabouts of the book but suddenly another figure appeared in the shadows. They stepped forward and reacted after she stepped out of the shows.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" Kara asked as she watched Alura who threw her hands up in the air in a defensive motion.

"I could be asking you the same thing, Kara," Alura responded, throwing the ball into her daughter's court for an explanation.

Karen and Harry locked eyes nervously, although they heard something going around in the shadows.

"We think that Jor-El had something and he hid it here."

It was where Alura went silent, she thought about that as well and if Jor-El had it that meant that he was trying to hide it before Zod got his hands on it. It was a powerful item although in the wrong hands, it could be re-configured and used to send all humans away from Earth, leaving the world open for a new Krypton, while all of the humans languished in a plane that was unfamiliar to them.

They would not survive.

"I think he did as well but it's…"

Kara shoved her mother out of the way as a razor sharp dagger flew through the air.

Harry jumped up and knocked one of his enemies off of the ledge, before sending him flying backwards to the ground with a crash and dare he say it, a crunch. As he fell to the ground, another individual rushed in, but Harry deflected a dagger and slipped into the shadows.

The next thing this assassin knew, he was rendered completely unconscious with one swift blow from Harry.

Two more assassins tried to rush forward at Karen who squinted her eyes and sent a blast of heat vision, burning the metal in the hand of her enemy. There was a loud scream as the enemy tried to push the sword out of his hand but it remained it stuck on his hand. He tried to push out but there was no way that he could get out, no way it all.

"Got this one!" Kara yelled, as she sent one of her enemies back with a rocket buster punch. This haymaker sent him flying up and down through the loft where he landed with a crash.

The large form of Ubu stepped forward to try and nail Kara in the back of her head, but Diana flew forward, knocking the large man away from her.

"You don't dare put your hands on me woman," Ubu stated gruffly, pulling himself to his feet and he dodged an attack from Diana.

Diana put him in a half nelson and suplexed him onto the back of his head, sending him crashing down to the man. Ubu was bred for toughness but getting thrown around by an Amazon was not going to end all that well for him.

One of the enemies swung a staff towards her but Diana threw her lasso and wrapped around the weapon to pull it from their hand. Diana grabbed her enemy around the head and flipped him down to the ground.

"They're everywhere, what are they after?" Diana asked and Harry allowed her to boost him up so he could get a lot of momentum and somersault into the air, before landing down on the back of the head of one of his enemies with a solid impact and cracking his skull with both of his feet.

The young wizard pushed back, before he sent a blast of energy at one of the enemy's.

There was an arrow that shot a flying dagger out of the air.

"Oh, more back up, excellent," Power Girl responded but she was not too happy that their resident reject of the Sherwood Forest was said back up.

"Figure that you could use a bit of help, but I need to get back into the swing of things," Green Arrow responded, aiming his arrow and shooting one of them in the chest, stunning them.

A dark haired girl jumped up and nailed Green Arrow in the back of the head, causing his face to smash onto the ground.

"That's pathetic, but I figured as much," the woman responded, her face twisted into a malevolent smirk as she dodged an attack from Supergirl. "You shouldn't keep getting in the way of the League of Shadows."

"Sorry, that's what we do," Harry responded as he sent thick cords around her but she sliced out and nimbly landed on her feet after a somersault in mid-air, avoiding the attacks and she threw a smoke grenade into the air, obscuring their vision.

'_Who is this?' _Diana asked to Harry, feeling her eyes water at the smoke but she pushed on. She had other senses that would allow her to push on forward, and she saw Harry, Kara, and Karen move forward.

'_Her name is Cheshire, she's a member of the League of Shadows, she's moved up the ranks rather quickly, and she's quite resourceful,' _Karen thought to them.

'_Yeah she is quite resourceful,' _Harry agreed, biting down on his lip but he did not do much of anything. The young wizard jumped up and heard her going around but there was nothing there.

"And she got away, didn't she?' Green Arrow responded, feeling the pain of cracked ribs.

That would teach him to go after an extremely powerful assassin with an injury, several of them in fact. He rubbed his side and shook his head.

Harry, Kara, and Karen meanwhile continued their search for the Book of RAO but they came to one unfortunate conclusion.

No matter how hard they tried, they could not find that particular item. It was gone, where it went, they did not know, and they could not say. All they knew was that the book was gone, disappeared off of the face of the farm.

Or maybe they were wrong and it was not here in the first place.

"I'm pretty sure it was here," Alura whispered and Thara appeared then before them.

"Not here," she whispered.

"Not here," Alura confirmed and then Clara popped up with them as well.

"Which means someone beat us to the punch," Clara responded, crossing her arms together and thinking about it. She had a couple of theories but they weren't something that she was going to throw out there, not without any proof that was.

Although there was only one person who could take down magical protections that was keyed into Harry and thus he could only take them down. Magic was solid but there were certain technicalities that a well-trained mind could get around.

* * *

Severus Snape made deals with people that he detested when it suited him. He grudgingly worked together with Dumbledore to ease his own conscience. And the fact that he led Lily to her grave but he also blamed James Potter for Lily's death. The fact she returned to life that gave him another chance to get his reward.

The demon seed of James Potter could be a potential barrier for Lily. Every time he saw Harry Potter, he saw those green eyes, staring back from behind the face of James Potter. It mocked him, taunted him, infuriated him that James stole Lily away from him. Potter had to ruin his life but Snape got some measure of revenge on him by leading Voldemort to the house and setting the Potters up for their doom.

Now Snape worked with Zod, upgrading several of their pieces of equipment and trying to get their powers back. He was certain that if given enough time, he could restore their powers. He studied their blood and found it to be unlike anything he'd ever seen. The scholar in Snape was intrigued by this blood and wanted to study this even more.

Yet, he knew really what he wanted to do and he knew that if he helped Zod and his men get their powers back, Snape's usefulness would be outlived. There was one thing that Snape was not and that was not an idiot.

He saw them in the shadows. A charm enhanced his hearing.

He heard one name, the name of Jor-El.

That was a name that he was familiar with, the name that Zod talked about in disgust and dismay. Snape's face contorted with a scowl, he could prove himself by taking out Jor-El and also this one next to him, he was someone who could be taken out easily as well.

Jor-El and Clark stood in the Artic.

"I guess there must have been something that happened that possessed me to become what he was," Jor-El commented but he wondered if his slippery slope began the moment where he did not help Zod.

He wondered if there was something about Zod turning to the side of cruelty, one of the individuals who helped destroy Krypton. He wondered if it was his fault for making him that way. He wondered if he was not too much unlike Zod and the man that he became, he wondered, he wondered.

"Do not judge Zod too harshly, my son," Jor-El continued as he looked up to the sky. "If I can come to a realization that my path is wrong, perhaps he can be brought to that realization as well."

Clark was not sure what to think; he was used to seeing the world in black and white that this shades of grey thing was not something that he was used to dealing with. The young man watched his father.

"Do you understand what I am telling you?"

Clark nodded.

"Sometimes it is hard to do the right thing and easy to do the wrong thing and trying to judge Zod on what he might become would be the easy thing," Jor-El added as he spun around, more for creating movement than anything else.

Clark wondered if Jor-El was being a bit foolish trying to think that Zod could be anything what he had become. There was an instant in time where the Last Son of Krypton closed his eyes and reared his head back with a poignant sigh.

"Do what you wish, it is your path in life, Kal," Lara added as she turned up, with Lois and Lana moving behind her.

Snape had the son of Jor-El in sight that should be a message to him. A grin appeared on Snape's face, as the Potions Master prepared to do the deed.

"AVADA KEDAVRA!"

The green light flew through the air and Jor-El dove in front of his son and took the spell head on.

Clark's eyes widened as his father fell to the ground, like a thump and he dove forward towards his enemy.

There was an explosion that rattled them all, before Clark could reach Snape. There was another flash of purple light, from a figure in the shadows. Lara took her turn to sacrifice her body for her son to protect him.

She was still alive unlike Jor-El but her face was sliced to ribbons. She fell down to the ground, blood splashing from her face and she clutched her stomach, offering a grimace of pain, and tried to get back to a standing position.

"No!" Clark yelled, blowing past Lana and Lois who tried to restrain him.

The good news was that his powers were back.

The bad news was that he was unable to really think too straight to really use them.

He fought forward, with blurred vision, pushing himself towards his enemies, and he staggered, his knees twisting for a brief moment. He coughed and tried to keep his eyes open but he was unable to do anything.

The figure that attacked his father was taken down; there was a loud crack that resounded around them all. The greasy figure thumped to the ground, his neck snapped as a pair of green eyes and a flicker red hair could be seen before she disappeared with a pop.

Harry, Kara, Karen, Thara, and Alura returned to the edge of the Artic on the other side away from Snape, with Diana showing up behind them.

"What happened?" Diana asked as she saw the figure down on the ground.

"Who was that?" Clark demanded as he looked down at the downed form of Snape, his hands twitching.

"That's Severus Snape," Harry responded as he leaned down before he checked on the man down on the ground for any signs of life. There were none "Or at least it was Severus Snape."

"Someone took him out, I don't know who she was," Lana responded as she turned to Harry, hitching in a deep breath. "But not before this Snape hit him with a blast of green light."

"Killing Curse, he's gone, all gone," Kara stated grimly as she leaned forward.

Clark turned around, he was so close to forming a relationship with his father, flesh, bone, and blood, and he had it ripped away from him. Why was it, what would this Snape have to gain from killing Jor-El?

"What about Lara?" Lois asked as Harry leaned down and used a charm to heal the fresh wounds on her face.

"She's pretty banged up, she took a heavy curse," Harry responded as he turned to them, a frown crossing his face. "Did you see anyone there that might have attacked them?"

Lois shook her head. "It wasn't Snape, there was someone who attacked her and then there was a third person that attacked Snape and killed him."

'_Wonderful, how many layers of conspiracy could we get into now?' _Harry asked Kara and Karen.

'_Just take a deep breath, everything will be fine,' _Diana thought in a reassuring voice as the three of them spun around.

Alura brought her words out, breaking the silence, biting down on her lip but other than that she remained rather calm and collected.

"I'll make sure….get her to the Fortress, it will be easier to heal her there," Alura told them, gently picking up the limp body of Lara in her arms.

There was no one who argued with her at all.

Clark stood, his father was all gone and the clone of his mother was in pretty bad shape but there was a chance that she could be saved. There were a few chances and Clark realized that his powers were back.

Although he wondered if he was better off without them.

He barely heard what Lana said as he turned around. Lois said something as well and Raya showed up.

He was in a tunnel, there was nothing else other than what he heard and he lost his sense of what was going on around him. He took a second to shake his head and clear the cobwebs.

Things would not improve for him at all, not any time soon.

* * *

"I just want to…I just want to say that I appreciate what you've told me and you're right, the true power doesn't come from my strength, rather what comes from within," Clark stated as he knelt before the freshly dug grave. "And despite the fact that I might have had differences with your future self, I know that….well I know that you had the best intentions in mind for me."

His throat had a lump in it that he struggled to swallow. He placed a pair of hands on his hips and threw his head back, offering a long and poignant sigh.

"I just want you to know that….everything is put into perspective, after….well after what happened," Clark added as he choked out the words. In many ways, it was like going through his human father dying once again and he could not really say anything.

Raya stepped forward, looking down at the grave, and letting out a deep breath.

"I'm glad you got to meet him, the real him, for what it's worth," Raya told him in a saddened voice as she put her hand on Clark's as she looked down at the grave.

Clark nodded, his jaw set before he let in a deep breath. "Yes, I am too, believe me, I am."

He didn't know what to say, he was not a man of many words and he struggled through his grief, for better or for worse. He nearly choked out a few more words and stood on the ground.

"Just remember that what I do now, I'm doing it for you and I swear I'll do what I can to make sure that….well I'll make sure to do what I can do," Clark continued stepping back and feeling his heart drum against his ribs more and more.

It was like a never ending pain that would not go away, Jor-El faded into the distance, struck down by a spiteful individual. And Clark would never know why Snape did what he did, only that he killed Jor-El. That was something that he could not forgive.

"Are you okay?"

Clark thought that it was Kara but instead it was Alura who stood there surveying him with a sad smile.

"We never should have been here," Alura stated to Clark as she sighed. "We never should have come here. We never should have opened this Pandora's Box."

"Maybe it was meant to be," Clark offered as he stood towards her.

"Jor-El died saving your life, I trust you'll not demean his sacrifice," Alura continued as she looked up and sighed.

"I won't," Clark responded before he turned to his aunt. "Did you know him well?"

"I worked with him, we were colleagues, we got along about as well as two stubborn scholars could," Alura commented half amused and half remorseful. "I do not even begin to understand where Jor-El went wrong."

"Do you know what happened when you died?" Clark asked and Alura took a moment to sigh.

"There is a chance that Jor-El was responsible but Zor-El was there as well," Alura remarked in a somber tone of voice, seeing the butterflies sit down on the gravestone. "I do not know what happened, although I think that Jor-El after it happened must have experienced guilt. He often wished to endure the entire fate of many on his shoulders. Often times denying his own needs and thinking that he had to go at it alone."

Alura offered him a smile before watching him with a calm voice.

"Do remember that you don't have to do it alone. There are always people out there that will help you. And if someone is stronger, more able in some ways, you are stronger and more able in other ways."

Alura turned around and left with these cryptic words.

Clark stood at the grave of Jor-El to ponder what happened, to be honest, he barely even knew his father but what he learned about him, a one eighty was done on his opinion on the man. Perhaps he was harsh about Jor-El given what happened with his AI counterpart and the grief that he put him through.

His powers returned and now Clark was going to make the most of them.

Meanwhile in the shadows another man paid his respects and this man was fairly angry, it was not supposed to end this way. It was not supposed to end this way at all. The man took a step back and drew in his breath, before he watched the gravestone from afar. Pondering the predicament that he was in, Zod crossed his arms.

Snape was a worm that betrayed Zod in more than a few ways. That much was for certain. And that betrayal cut deeper than a knife, searing through the skin. Zod wished to crack the neck of Snape but knew that the deed was already done. Snape was gone as well and Zod was back to square one.

The Book of RAO fell into the hands of someone else and without Jor-El being alive, there was no way that he could get his hands on that artifact. He hid it somewhere and by all indications, Zod found that someone took it.

He had a funny feeling that someone, likely Lily Potter, might have outmaneuvered him and swiped the Book of RAO for their own use. He clutched his fist and scowled, thinking about it, it was not a pleasant thing to think about. He was quite uncertain about the witch's game but soon he would know and soon he would continue his plans.

The solar tower was right on schedule and Harry and Kara Potter were none the wiser. Things would have run a lot smoother if he had the Book of RAO in his hand and once again, he cursed that witch for swiping it from his hands. He was so close, so close to obtaining his birthright and the birthright of all of his Kandorian brothers and sisters and then nothing.

There was something regarding their powers but he saw something, an opportunity presenting itself right in front of him.

He saw him, there was no mistaking about who this was, this was the son of Jor-El, he recognized his face, his features anywhere. Zod felt like he was looking in a time capsule, that of Jor-El when he was younger. It caused him to go back down memory lane and a smile crossed his face.

There was another reason why something crossed his face and that was because of opportunity.

The son of Jor-El could be a very valuable asset to his Kandorian brothers and sisters.

* * *

"Long day?" Tess asked as Harry and Kara turned up at the Luthorcorp Headquarters on that day.

"One could say that," Kara responded as she placed her hands through her hair. "So does the construction of the tower go well?"

"Well no worse than usual, Zod and his men have been quiet," Tess responded, she did not like it when her business partners did not give her full disclosure.

"Zod plays a very delicate game but we got a bigger problem, one of the Kandorians have been killed…by a human," Harry responded and Tess took a breath, before she let it out.

"It could be considered a declaration of war," Tess mused, dread filling her very being.

She did wonder about how Lily Potter figured into this, there was something that told Tess that she did not put all of the cards on the table for them to play with. Until it was too late that was and Tess worried, even though she did not show any outward signs. She hated the unknown and it was time for her to adapt for the moment.

"Miss Mercer, Mister Zod is here to see you."

"Speak of the devil," Tess murmured underneath her breath and she took a moment to hold her thoughts in, along with her tongue. "Send him in."

The door opened and Zod stepped inside, walking inside. There was a moment of silence while Harry and Kara stared at him and Zod looked back at them. There were a few seconds when the two groups looked back at each other.

It was Zod who broke the ice.

"I trust you've learned of the fate of one of our brothers," Zod stated as he watched Kara and Harry and gauged their reaction. "Jor-El is no longer with us."

"I've heard, it's a tragedy," Kara responded in a detached voice as she looked back at Zod and tried to figure out how to read his expression.

The problem was someone like Zod did not wear his heart on his sleeve or his expression on his face. There was an instant where he closed his eyes and turned his head around, watching out the window into the city below. His eyes averted down onto the ground, bringing one breath in and bringing one breath out of him.

"I regret what happened," Zod added and Harry watched him for any signs of deception towards him. "I had nothing to do with it but I fear that I may have led Snape…"

Zod paused and remained calm.

"Snape is a twisted human being, he is the type that has killed before," Zod concluded as he clasped his hands together and his eyes remained unblinking, cool, lifeless, nothing to it. He turned his head off to the side and turned to them. "You must believe me that I would have never done something like that. I would never spill Kryptonian blood in such a fashion, without such a purpose. What Snape did was cold hearted and cruel and he thought that your mother was a prize that he could be awarded for good behavior."

Zod appeared sickened and Harry shared his sickening thoughts.

"It just proves that the humans may lash out against us if they consider us to be a threat so we must be ready for them," Zod stated as he kept his eyes on Harry and Harry locked his eyes to them. "My people, they respect you. And I trust you share the same respect to them."

"Yes, I do," Harry responded, the coolness burning through his voice.

"Keep that respect up," Zod answered in a swift tone of voice. "We are among the same cloth, Harry Potter, and trust me when I say it; we will have many of the same challenges. We want to help build a better future. They see you as a savior but there is one who might get in our way."

Harry and Kara remained silent and Tess felt like she was the third party to a very private conversation.

"The satellites are up?" Zod asked as he watched them.

"Within the next fortnight," Harry confirmed to him.

"Excellent, keep me posted," Zod retorted with a smirk, a knowing one at that.

Of course it was Harry who had the control in his hands, those satellites were uplinked to the Shining Light Foundation computers. All he needed to do was to access them and then he would find out what Zod was up to.

"There is one more concern that I have," Zod stated and he waited until the full attention of both Harry and Kara was on him. "We have the son of Jor-El, he may take his father's demise the wrong way."

"He won't be a problem," Kara said coolly but she would have to give her cousin the head's up, because he had now entered Zod's radar.

'_We might have a problem,' _Karen suggested as she wondered what Zod's game. _'No luck on the Book of RAO from my end.'_

'_It's obvious who stole it, you know it, I know it, everyone knows it,' _Harry thought to them all.

Zod went over a few more minor details before he showed himself out.

"Do you trust him?" Tess asked as she kept her eyes on Harry.

"To an extent," Harry commented in a cryptic tone of voice and Tess inclined her head with a nod, that was fair enough.

"Do you trust me?" Tess asked and there was a moment where Harry watched her.

"Until the moment you do something that will make me regret doing so," Harry answered and Tess nodded, that was fair enough. "Don't forget the plan."

"I haven't," Tess responded, but she understood that if this plan backfired, it was going to be her neck that was on the chopping block more so than Harry's.

It was a waiting game for them both.

* * *

Lara's body rested in the crystalized chamber in the Fortress.

"Beginning healing process and initializing neural download and biological upgrade…one percent, two percent."

**To Be Continued In the Next Chapter "Infamous."**


	14. Chapter 14: Infamous

**Chapter Fourteen: Infamous. **

Harry Potter stood at the edge of the hallway to see everything that was going on around him; it was absolutely insanity. His eyes widened as he watched as the horrific scene unfolded before his very eyes. His mouth opened once and then shut again, this happened several times as he watched the scene before him unfold. The wizard breathed in and out, it was something….no he could not fathom it, he could not fathom it at all. It was just too much for him to deal with. He turned his head around and his eyes widened.

"This is the absolute most insane thing that I've ever seen."

Truly, Harry never been in such a mad situation before in his life and he thought that he had seen them all. He was wrong, very wrong, the wizard watched them all, with bated breath as he turned his head for a second. His hand clasped on his chest as he stared up towards the ceiling and then snapped back at the madness there.

"The horror, the horror."

Chloe, who stood by Harry, rolled her eyes at his overreaction. "C'mon Harry, it isn't that bad. Although these people are little fanatical but they're….actually they're kind of bonkers, but that's half of the fun."

"For the love of all things pure, why did you ever talk me into coming to this place?" Harry asked as he threw his head back and sighed.

"Harry, it's just a comic book convention, it's not like we're at ground zero of nuclear Armageddon," Chloe commented as she watched him with amusement dancing through her eyes.

"Besides, it's so cool," Claire chimed in as she looked up in awed reverence, her eyes dancing in mirth as they darted around to see everything around her.

These comic books, never mind that they cost an arm and a leg, they were so cool, they were so awesome.

'_How is it that you get to skip out on this?' _Harry though to Kara through the bond link.

'_Work at the Shining Light Foundation, remember, Kandorians, kind of important,' _Kara thought barely hiding her amusement. _'Besides, you could use a night off from the insanity that is our lives. You're kind of under a lot stress.'_

'_I'm not under stress,' _Harry thought in a stressed out way to Kara through the bond link but the blonde woman gave a mirthful chuckle.

'_You could have fooled me,' _Kara thought back to him dryly.

"Are you pouting?"

"I'm not pouting," Harry stated to Chloe, giving her a death glare. Claire smiled at her.

"Looks like pouting to me, Dad."

Harry crossed his arms and Chloe had to admit, the look on his face was so priceless that one could have put it on a postcard. He looked around at the general insanity that was around him, to be honest, he fought dragons that were less dangerous than some of the people who were present in this place. The wizard corked an eyebrow momentarily.

"These people are a tad bit fanatical," Harry whispered to Chloe who shrugged. "And I've seen some fanatical people in my life."

"I'm sure," Chloe remarked back as Harry shrugged his shoulders before he had a nice look around.

He was not too impressed by what he saw and was certain that some people overdid things just a tad, well he was a fan of people being fans but this was a tad bit over the top for his tastes and his liking. The young wizard edged himself over and watched them all. He carefully took a minute to assess the situation around him, his head turned slowly, to face Chloe, who had a slight smile cross her face.

"What kind of person dresses like that?"

Chloe raised an eyebrow. "Like what?"

Harry pointed out the person. He stood there, dressed in robes with glasses and a smudge on his forehead that resembled a lightning bolt, along with messy hair.

"Like that, what kind of person dresses like that?" Harry asked as he pointed towards the young man who raised an eyebrow but said nothing. "That's the type of person that….well I don't know."

"Then you better not turn around," Chloe remarked, as she gained a great deal of amusement from the situation.

Harry spun around for an instant and saw them, saw them all in their glory and his eyebrow rose a little bit before he was completely flummoxed by them. He could hardly believe what was there, yet they were there.

Dozens of fans dressed like Arcane. Chloe barely held in the laughter that she had, which looked like effort.

"I didn't realize that I was that popular," Harry muttered as he threw his hands into his head and sighed. "I guess that ruins my image."

"Or enhances it," Chloe chimed in with a shrug and she was about to say something but was stopped by a few words.

"Well of all of the people that I thought I would see here, you are low on the list, Harry."

"Hey, Zee," Harry said as he reached forward and gave one of his bonded a tight hug and a kiss. Zatanna stood there, dressed in her usual attire, which honestly drew a few less stares than they did due to the nature of the comic book convention. "What brings you here?"

"I got almost all of the cursed items," Zatanna informed him and Harry smiled towards her.

"Great, that's really great, I'm glad that you've got them all," Harry responded and Zatanna offered him a smile, before waving her hand.

"Don't roll out the welcome wagon and pat me on the back yet Harry, there's still one more item that I need to grab onto and it's a big one," Zatanna said and Harry spun towards her, raising his eyebrow slightly at this comment. "Remember the Warrior Angel secret origins comic book that I told you about?"

"Yes, I've heard about that, your father really put a hex on that one," Harry retorted as he walked over next to her. Chloe moved over to keep an eye on Claire because she saw that Zatanna and Harry had business of the magical matter to take care of. "But that's not a problem…unless of course someone opens it. And no collector will want to open it."

"Because it drags down the initial value but a fan….a young and impressionable fan might," Zatanna told him as she pulled her hair back and sighed to the heavens.

There was a flash of light and the telltale sign of powerful magic being unleashed.

'_Of course, of fucking course,' _Harry thought to himself as he threw his head back and sighed.

The work of a hero was never done and while these comic book convention goers were dressing like heroes, he was going to be one.

"Zee, hypothetically speaking, what would happen if someone did open that comic book?" Harry asked and Zatanna tried to remain calm as she mulled that matter over in her mind.

"They would get all of the powers and abilities of Warrior Angel but other than that they would still be themselves," Zatanna stated as Harry scrambled forward, with the dark haired magician on his heels. "At least until….the second half of the curse begins."

"And what's the second half of the curse?"

Harry felt incoming dread pile onto him as he waited for her to explain.

* * *

There was nearly an hour of searching later and Harry was trying to calibrate a magical energy signature. He took a moment to clasp his hand to his forehead and throw his head back with a sigh. There were times where he wondered why he even bothered but then there were times where he was reminded of why he did.

"I think we've found our erstwhile hero," Zatanna chimed in, in normal circumstances she would be amused but now the situation was getting kind of dangerous. She closed her eyes and inclined her head up towards the heavens, a moment later she edged forward, getting closer and closer.

"And he's….yes what is he doing?" Harry asked as he crossed his arms and there were a group of civilians that crossed their arms and watched the young individual floating in the air above them. The wizard kept his eyes on this young man.

"He's….he's just a kid," Zatanna breathed as the two of them watched the young man.

"Yes, a kid with powers and none of the maturity to use them properly," Harry reminded her, as he knew what was going to happen.

He was dressed in a vintage Warrior Angel outfit as he flew back and forth, circling around the people on the ground and he crossed his arms, with a smile on his face. He did a triumphant pose and Harry once again wondered what he was doing. The wizard frowned for an instant and crossed his arms, before he watched the young man above him. Warrior Angel he was not, although he did have the mannerisms down.

"It could be worse," Zatanna offered him, as she racked her brain trying to figure out a way to negate what her father did. The problem was that Zatara was pretty good in making things that were hard to reverse by normal means. So the dark haired girl racked her mind constantly and crossed her arms, before throwing her head back.

Decisions, decisions, there was so much to do and so much that could go awfully wrong.

"I need to check something, do you think that you can keep him from causing too much collateral damage?" Zatanna asked as she turned from Harry to the young man who had been empowered by the comic book.

"Sure, no problem," Harry responded as Zatanna grabbed her bonded around the waist and pulled him into a long kiss. The wizard smiled before he circled around.

Thoughts cycled through Harry's mind as he circled around Warrior Angel on the ground. He did not want to bring in anyone to help unless he needed to. Besides, he reasoned with himself, how hard could one kid possessed by a comic book be to take down? It seemed like such a no-brainer to bring him down and the wizard twisted the dial on his wrist.

The Arcane Costume appeared on him and the wizard swayed his head from one side to the next, before he kicked himself up into the air and moved to face the young fan.

The young fan turned around, and he could sense the magic fueling his powers. There were theories that magic got more potent over the years that an object was cursed and there was a shield that formed around Warrior Angel that prevented any attacks, both magical or otherwise from effecting him.

'_Damn you, Zatara, damn you,' _Harry thought as he threw his head back. He blocked his thought process from his other wives, but kept the link to Zatanna open.

'_I know, I'm kind of damning my father now as well, although thankfully the Marauders weren't involved, because this would be much worse, ' _Zatanna thought to Harry through the bond link and she crossed her arms, flicking through the books. _'Just keep an eye on him.'_

Harry smiled swiftly, crossing his arms and pushed himself back, before the young wizard flew back and forth and followed the young Warrior Angel doppleganger who rushed forward. Super speed was the order of the day.

"Hey, Arcane, it's nice to see a fellow hero!"

Harry still found himself confused that he was known that much. The Arcane identity was supposed to be a front for his activities as Harry Potter, the owner of the Shining Light Foundation. It was not supposed to be an identity that was known and with obsessed fanboys as well.

Before Harry could say anything, an alarm went off.

"Watch this, I'm going to be a true hero!" Warrior Angel yelled as he shot forward with reckless intentions in mind.

The two criminals never stood a chance and neither did the property around them. Harry winced at the explosions that happened around him.

* * *

"Did see you that?"

Harry watched the possessed boy dressed as a hero, stop two criminals and he folded his arms, before staring him down. While it was true that young man stopped two enemies, there was one huge flaw in his efforts. And that huge flaw was that while he stopped the two criminals, they were petty thugs. They stole about twenty dollars worth of merchandise and then they were hanging upside down, struggling, their arms and legs swinging in erratic directions.

And then Harry saw the craters in the street, the broken windows, and all of the property damage that had been caused. There were no two ways about it, things really went….well they could have gone a lot better. Figuring out a way they could have gone better, that was lost on Harry.

"Do you even think about what you've done?" Harry asked, trying not to get upset, because let's face it, Harry had his fair share of mistakes in his growing as a young hero and he did things that he should not.

However, this was an entirely new level.

"I think that I've saved those people," Warrior Angel stated as he turned towards Harry. "Just like you, just like Arcane, I'm a true hero."

"Being a hero is more than having powers, it's more about that costume, and it's more about having a moniker of a fictional character," Harry lectured as he stared down the young man.

The sirens echoed and the heroics of this young man was not appreciated by the authorities, who moved in.

"Put your hands up and come quietly!" the authorities ordered as they held the guns up and pointed towards the young Warrior Angel double who looked confused. "We will open fire."

"I don't understand, I'm a hero," Warrior Angel stated and Harry felt the need to face palm several times.

"The thing is you're not," Harry retorted as he watched Warrior Angel and his face turned towards the Herald of Death. The young man watched Harry with some skeptical intentions in his eyes as the Boy-Who-Lived decided to explain what he meant because he knew that he was being misunderstood. "I'm not saying that you don't have potential, eventually, but you're going about at being a hero for the wrong reason. It's not something that should be glamorous, it's about doing the right thing and there are sacrifices that you might have to make, that aren't exactly the most pleasant thing in the world."

Harry watched the young man watch him and there was a flicker of magical energy in his eyes, that glowed sinisterly.

'_Harry, we might have a problem,' _Zatanna thought to him.

'_Oh, really, we do?' _Harry asked in a mock insightful tone of voice and Zatanna sighed

'_Yes we do,' _Zatanna offered him through the mental link. _'My father….well he was rather creative with what he did. As such, he made it so the comic book storyline went from start to finish. The rise of a hero and the disappointment as such where….well he'll turn to a villain."_

"_Dare I ask what triggers the change?' _Harry asked as he could feel something happening around him and there were things flickering around the young wizard, before he swayed his head from one side to the next.

Zatanna waited for the other shoe to drop and she told Harry about it mentally.

'_What the person perceives as a betrayal,' _Zatanna thought to Harry, a grim inflection in her thoughts and Harry inclined his head forward for a moment, as he heard the evil laughter and the young man changing around him. There was a thunderous round of laughter. _'Which you just did with your noble intentions, didn't you?"_

'_Of course, I did, would it be my luck if I didn't?' _Harry asked with a smile, wishing that he would have taken his chance with the fanboys at the comic book convention instead going against this force who stepped forward towards him.

"You didn't appreciate me as a hero, Arcane," Warrior Angel stated in a dark and brooding tone voice as spikes appeared around his costume and his eyes glowed red. Dark energy surrounded his body, with an overpowering aura. "Perhaps you will appreciate the fact that I am your mortal enemy and the one who brought you down."

"The spikes are a very nice touch, very nineties Image anti-hero of you," Harry remarked dryly before he dodged the flying and flaming spikes. "And I don't….I don't quite remember that. Granted, I have better things to do with my life but I'm pretty sure that Warrior Angel's power set did not…"

Harry shut up as he dodged even more of the flaming spikes before he caused a glowing energy scythe to materialize itself and he rushed forward, swinging forward towards the fences. A swift swing knocked the spikes back and sliced clear through them. There was a huge explosion as Harry protected the civilians from the backlash of the spikes.

"You cannot hope to defeat me!"

Harry really could not believe that he took default phase number nine from the clichéd super villain guide book. To his credit, he did not bat an eyelash but rather soldiered on through with his attempts to fight his enemy. The spikes flew in every which direction and Harry pivoted around from one side to the other. Ducking, dodging, rolling underneath the attacks, and sent him flying backwards.

'_And I just sent an innocent person to his death,' _Harry thought to himself but the young man pulled himself up to the top of the building.

'_And we've got another problem,' _Zatanna added to Harry and the wizard raised his hands, face palm, must resist the urge to do it.

'_Just the other problem,' _Harry thought as Zatanna sighed. _'Well, lay it out on me, Zee, what's the worst that could happen?'_

'_Well….the curse of the comic book makes the ultimate villain,' _Zatanna responded as she bit down on her lip. _'And you know what the ultimate villain needs to match.'_

'_The ultimate hero,' _Harry stated as he pivoted around the flaming spikes and flung himself down to one side, dodging the burning spikes with precision while preventing them from attacking anyone. His heart sped up a slight bit, before he turned his head a little bit. _'Is this about as bad as I think it is?'_

"_Far worse, given your power set,' _Zatanna responded and Harry almost sensed her biting down on her lips. _'Just keep him at bay, I've almost got the countercurse ritual set up. My father made this one tricky, only a member of his bloodline can counteract it."_

Harry dodged the attacks as he went silent and then a glowing dagger appeared in his hand.

'_It's time to go to school,' _Harry thought to himself as he swung the dagger towards the flaming sword of his enemy.

A loud explosion echoed throughout Metropolis as the civilians looked up in awe and the two fighters flew backwards. There was a moment where the dust started to slowly clear and for a second, Harry thought he had stopped the ultimate enemy in his tracks.

He thought wrong, oh boy did he think wrong.

* * *

The pain indicated that he was….well the pain indicated that Harry was in fact still among the breathing. That had to be worth something, at least that's what he thought. Of course, there was an instant where he thought that he was about ready to fade. He caught his breath, feeling his heart drum against his ribs. The wizard pushed himself up, he was fine, he hurt more than anything that one could ever believe but other than that he was fine. He had a lot better, but he had a lot worse days.

He turned his head, twisting his neck and feeling the need to bite down on his tongue, along with his heart beating across his chest.

"You should give up now, because you'll never be able to defeat me!" the Dark Warrior Angel howled as he caused his flaming spikes to circle around each other, before he threw them at Harry but he froze them. "Well played Arcane, but I am your equal, your match, your arch-nemesis."

Harry decided to do the one thing that true heroes did when the villains were getting full of themselves. He elected to ruthlessly mock them like it was no one's business.

"Well, you think that, don't you?" Harry asked with a smile crossing his face as he continued to do battle with his enemy. "One would think that, but one would be wrong. The truth is that you think that you are much tougher than you really are. You still had the same delusions when you were a hero only this time…."

"Are these delusions?"

Dark Warrior Angel aimed the flying spikes as they came down towards the Herald of Death. The wizard edged around them before he kicked up in the air. He caught his breath rather swiftly and spun around, before he put a shield around them.

"You're trapped in here with me, what do you hope to accomplish with this?" Warrior Angel thought to Harry but the Boy-Who-Lived's face contorted, before turning his head around. "What do you hope to accomplish?"

Harry smiled, blocking even more attacks. He was not angry, he was cool, he was collected, and the wizard eyed these attacks. Every single of them launched him with intense fury but the wizard refused to back down. He kept his head inclined down and the wizard watched them with increasing fury. The young wizard hung his head a little bit, before throwing his head back with a bit of a sigh.

"Should we?" Harry asked as he watched the young man.

"Should we what? The Dark Warrior Angel asked, wondering what this so called do-gooder was talking about.

Harry did not answer with words but rather he answered with an attack. A blinding energy bolt shot from his hand before knocking his enemy back. This attack caused him to skid backwards, and fly over the edge of the building. That would not do anything more but inconvenience him, but Harry was looking any stalling tactics. Two energy scythes appeared in his hands and Harry turned them over and over in his hands, gaining the momentum that he could before he launched forward a vicious energy attack.

It was not at Herald of Death quality where it would bring the person to the afterlife but it would be a huge enough impact; something that was good enough for Harry. He swung the energy scythes hard and they landed against the enemy with a resounding crack, his lungs filling up with fluid as he was dropped backwards.

"You didn't think that I have the heart of a hero," the Dark Warrior Angel stated as he turned his head around for an instant, before watching Harry. "Maybe I have the ambition to be a villain."

"Maybe you do," Harry responded in a careful voice before folding his arms before eyed his enemy. "Or maybe your time has run out."

"You think, hero?"

This question was given in a taunting fashion and Harry inclined his head, before his teeth shifted into a grin.

"I do not think," Harry fired back as he turned his position around before his face twisted into a smile. "I know."

The young would be hero shifted towards him and the wizard gave him a motion, a motion that indicated one thing. That was an invite for his adversary to bring it on and that's what the adversary did do. He rushed forward and the young wizard dodged the attacks of magical energy. The spell proved to be useful in the sense that it gave his enemy the natural power to match Harry, despite the fact that he had all of the gifts of the Herald of Death. And Harry's primary concern was protecting civilians.

"You never were a hero, you suck at being a villain, because no matter what, you can't defeat me, so it's useless to even think you can!" Harry yelled as he brought down the thunder onto the head of his adversary. There was a loud crash that echoed as said enemy slipped and slide.

Harry reminded himself that somewhere in the body of this thing, there was a helpless child, perhaps not much older or younger than his daughter. He had to break the spell or at least stall it long enough for Zee to work her magic. The wizard swung his fists towards his enemy with reckless abandon, aiming towards his adversary and there was a loud crash as his enemy flew backwards, nearly head over heels to the ground.

The dust cleared and spikes shot from the ground. Using the ability born from dodging bludgers on the Quidditch field, Harry dodged the attacks and then a bolt of orange energy shot him in the chest.

The Dark Warrior Angel stepped forward, seeing Harry down on the ground. His triumph echoed along with his loud laughter.

"You see, Arcane, you can't take me down!" he yelled in a thunderous voice as he prepared to finish off his enemy. "You should have known that you cannot defeat me! No one rivals Dark Warrior Angel!"

"And you should have known never to count me out until the fight is over," Arcane fired back as he pushed himself up and heard Zatanna approaching, speaking in tongues as she moved forward and prepared the enchantment.

The Dark Warrior Angel was caught in the back of the head and he began to glow with the surrounding golden light. There was a swirling of energy around the back of his head, before he dropped down to the ground.

The young man rolled over, blood dripping from his mouth but Harry healed his injuries instantly.

"What happened?" he asked as he watched Harry with widened eyes.

Harry sensed that he did not remember anything about the ordeal which might be for the best.

"You blacked out but it's all over now," Harry breathed with a sigh as he saw the comic book there, as Zatanna picked it up before anyone else could open it.

* * *

"So will he be okay?" Claire asked as Harry finished telling her the story of the adventure of today. The group sat in Harry's office at the Daily Planet, because Chloe had a couple things that she needed to finish off, although not many. She simply stepped out and rejoined the conversation.

"Yes, he'll be fine, a bit shaken up but he'll be fine," Harry told her, although he felt that everyone learned some lessons from what happened today, although the wizard was kind of lost at what those lessons were. Never the less, the lessons were learned and there was another day in the books. Not to mention there were no casualties, a bit of property damage, but no deaths which was all that they could have hoped for.

Chloe sat next to Harry, putting her hand on his, and smiling.

"At least things could have been worse," Chloe remarked in a somber tone of voice and Harry inclined his head, he could agree that things could have gone much worse than they did.

A seemingly innocent comic book could have caused untold chaos and he could not believe that Zatanna's father was the one behind this. There was hexing things for a joke and then there was this. He did not want to ascend upon a pedestal but Harry felt that this was a bit too far all things considered. Although this was a relic from his younger days, so he mellowed out after that.

"Thankfully there will be no adverse side effects," Harry concluded with a smile across his face as he looked outside the window.

"The best thing we could have hoped for," Chloe inputted as she turned around and watched outside. The blonde went over the story in her mind and thought that despite everything, Harry handled it pretty well.

"So, that's taken care of, the comic's been destroyed," Zatanna remarked as she turned up to face Harry, Chloe, and Claire.

"Ah, no souvenir," Claire responded with a pout on her face.

"Now look who's pouting," Harry fired back which caused Chloe to crack a grin.

"I'm not pouting," Claire pouted as she scowled and folded her arms.

The redhead girl turned around, hiding the grin she had. She had a feeling that her father would want some alone time in a minute and besides after the day at the comic book convention, even if it was cut short, she was a bit knackered. The redhead threw her head back and offered a slight yawn.

"I think it's time for someone to head off to bed," Chloe remarked and Harry offered his wife a smile.

"No, I'm sure I'm pretty good," Harry answered but Chloe gave him a mocking glare.

"Not you," Chloe retorted to Harry who smiled back at her knowingly. "I swear, you sometimes do that to wind me up."

"Who me?" Harry asked Chloe and Chloe raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sure Kara will be done by now, we can take you home and get you situated," Chloe stated and Harry had a feeling that he would hear all about it all too soon. He threw his head back. "See you at home Harry."

She leaned forward and offered Harry a parting kiss on the lips.

This left Harry alone in the office with Zatanna who watched Chloe leave and turned towards Harry with a smile across her face.

"So is that all of them?" Harry asked and Zatanna offered a triumphant smile before she answered the question in affirmative.

"Yes, that's all of that," Zatanna confirmed as she edged forward, before she sat on the edge of Harry's desk. She kicked her shoes off and he saw her fishnet covered legs up close which was quite the sight. "Took me about three weeks but….I think that if it wasn't for you playing stall the villain, it would have ended up a lot worse."

Zatanna started to unbutton her top, to reveal her chest encased in a black bra that showed a generous amount of cleavage. She slowly stripped off her clothes before Harry, making his eyes watch her the entire time. Not that Harry needed that much coercion but still she stripped swaying slowly before him, before standing there in his office and then she sat down on his desk.

She was an absolutely breathtaking sight, wearing nothing but a black bra, a black thong, black garter belt, and black stockings, as she wiggled her toes tantalizingly. Zatanna's face turned into an impish smile before she watched Harry, carefully drawing in his form with her eyes. She reached forward and grabbed the buttons on his shirt.

"I think you need a reward for all you've done tonight," Zatanna breathed, exposing Harry's bare chest and running her hands down his chest and abs, feeling them with a smile on her face.

"That would be great," Harry commented as she leaned forward and planted a kiss on his lips, causing his mind to go rather wild from the sensations of her mouth on his. He placed a hand on her bare back and pulled her in to him with a kiss, before she straddled his lap, grinding her crotch against his.

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends.**

* * *

"I've been keeping an eye on how the Kandorians are reacting," Alura remarked as she rested on the chair, sitting across from Kara, Karen, Thara, and Harry at the Shining Light Foundation. "I think many of them are going to follow the strongest leader. Some of them have some built in loyalty with Zod and the others….well they tend to follow the strongest leader like I said."

Kara smiled, she was glad that she and her mother both got the same impression from that. The blonde placed her hands on her face and closed her eyes before she turned her head around. Learning about the Kandorians and what they had to do had been an extremely illuminating experience all things considered.

"There is one tiny problem," Alura added as she closed her eyes. "The Book of RAO."

"Jor-El pulled a Jor-El and hid it somewhere," Karen added and the group all nodded, knowing how dire this situation was and would remain to be. "And the problem is we have no idea to find it."

Kara stroked her chin for a second and her eyes clouded over with a thoughtful expression. "Actually I'm pretty sure that the book was on the Kent Farm somewhere but in all of the chaos, it isn't anymore. And any number of suspects could have picked it up, there were a lot of people moving around on the farm that day."

The entire situation had Harry mightily vexed so he tried to piece together the circumstances in his head. The mysterious Book of RAO, it's the purpose that Harry had yet to figure out, went missing from underneath their nose. Snape murdered Jor-El and then Snape was murdered by someone. Who was this person, Harry had no idea? Then there was his mother still out there, Sinclair still out there, and then there was this mysterious female double that popped up time and time again.

What it boiled down to was one chaotic situation that Harry could hardly stomach. He had been in these situations before but now the stakes rose by a hundredfold. He spun his head around for a second and closed his eyes before looking towards Kara and Karen.

"What is the Book of RAO?" Harry asked them, he had only gotten vague answers by now.

Kara shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know any more than you do."

Alura was all too happy to try and fill in some of the blanks. The blonde's face contorted with a very slight smile as she decided to fill them in.

"Well there are a lot of myths surrounding the Book of RAO but it is something that is of great power and was lost years ago, although Jor-El may have acquired it and had it on him this entire time, arranging for it to be brought to this planet," Alura explained as she watched them. "There are rumors that he or she who holds the book will shape the fate of the Kryptonian race. And then there are those rumors that the book will lead to a brand new Krypton."

Harry whistled. "No wonder why Zod wants it."

"Which is why he can't have it," Thara chimed in. She wished she had solid leads on the Book of RAO but there was nothing there.

The race appeared to be on, wherever it was. Not only for the fate of the Kandorian race, but for the fate of the world. There was a pendulum that swung from one side to the other, and it could go either way. They could rise to the top or fall into the abyss.

**To Be Continued in the Next Arc "Beware the Batgirl."**


	15. Chapter 15: Beware the Batgirl Part One

**Chapter Fifteen: "Beware the Batgirl Part One."**

"Solomon Grundy, born on a Monday."

Supergirl bounced off the wall in the heat of an intense battle against the swamp zombie known as Solomon Grundy. She was dressed in an outfit with a blue half shirt short sleeved top with a yellow shield with the red "S" that symbolized the House of El. The shirt showed off her toned midriff and stretched snugly around her firm breasts. A short red skirt symbolized the next part of her outfit along with emphasizing her long shapely legs, along with the flowing red cape. The red high heeled boots with gold grim around them topped off the outfit.

"So what's this guy's problem?" Supergirl asked as she tried to take out using her own body like it was a ballistic force missile. Grundy stopped the Maid of Might in her tracks and flung her into the wall.

"Christistened on a Tuesday." Grundy grunted as he swiped at her partner and husband, Arcane.

Arcane kept dodging the attacks, dressed in a black top with green trim over it. He wore a black of black pants and also goggles. It was nothing fancy but it did the job. He dodged the attacks of Grundy, driving the magical swamp zombie back with miniature energy blasts from his hands.

"Didn't you hear him, his name is Solomon Grundy?" Arcane asked with a smile.

"Yes, Harry, I heard that," Supergirl responded as she caught the cinderblock the zombie threw at her and flung it back at him with all of her might.

"Zombie that comes out of the slaughter swamp, reborn every year on Halloween, under a different persona," Arcane stated as he bounced some more attacks off of Grundy. The zombie's powers made him a dangerous adversary to stop.

"Married on Wednesday."

Grundy charged Harry with about the subtlety one would expect from an overgrown swamp zombie but Harry flickered his hand and the zombie smashed into the wall. He was caught off guard.

"So is this an undesirable?" Supergirl asked as she used her heat vision to make the zombie's life a bit more uncomfortable.

"Not as such now but it's kind of a gray area," Arcane told her as his green eyes focused the target and he smacked Grundy back. The swamp zombie growled before he closed his eyes and gave a snarling growl.

"Taken ill on Thursday."

Harry and Kara wound up the full force of their powers and knocked Grundy for a huge loop sending him flying backwards. The zombie smashed to the ground with fury and both Heralds of Death knew that their work was only beginning.

"His spirit is in a state of constant flux until he is at peace," Harry told her as his energy scythe rose from his hands.

"So let's put him in time out for another three hundred and sixty days," Kara grunted in a fierce tone of voice as she copied Harry's movements and the energy scythe swirled. Grundy appeared to not be as dumb as he let on as he made the Heralds work for his demise.

"Grew worse on Friday!"

Grundy bobbed and weaved around their attacks whilst Harry and Kara matched his movements when they could. The two Heralds of Death were determined to outsmart the zombie which might not have been the most difficult thing in the world. They kept up the pace and the two of them pulled back their attacks, before they smashed down onto him. The double fist of fury sent him spiraling backwards.

The zombie gave a scream as he perished but he would be back, reborn once again like clockwork. The nature of his life cycle was such that it would be always repeated. Supergirl and Arcane watched each other before both of them smiled before they completed the poem.

"Died on a Saturday!" Harry sang.

"Buried on a Sunday!" Kara recited with a barely restrained grin on her face before the couple concluded in unison.

"That was the end of Solomon Grundy!"

Supergirl and Arcane paused with smiles crossing their face but as always, their work was rarely done. In fact she stepped forward and heard something going on across the way from the docks that they fought Grundy in. Given that they were in Gotham City, there was always some kind of deal going down with the seedy criminal underbelly so that fact did not faze Kara all that much. She did grab Harry's sleeve and turned towards him, before she nodded.

'_Something going on?' _Harry asked and Kara nodded once more, as she tightened her grip on his wrist. The blonde threw her head back and spun her head towards the area. _'So we should check it out, right?"_

"_Right,' _Kara agreed as the two of them stepped forward as they switched into invisibility mode. They wouldn't interfere unless they knew what was truthfully going on before them.

The sight they saw was a short and rotund man in a stylish looking suit with a top hat and a monocle. He had a pointed nose and had a face that only a mother could love. He wore white gloves which covered his flipper like hands and it was obvious that he had a hunched back. His name was Oswald Cobblepot but thanks to his rather unconventional appearance, he was known as the Penguin. He carried an umbrella that was razor sharp.

The second man was a man with grey hair, dressed in a business suit. Had no one knew anydifferently, one might have mistaken him for a bank manager or an accountant. He gave a warm smile but it was a façade for the blood thirst that burned on the other side of those hostile eyes. His name was Rupert Thorne, one of the top mob bosses in Gotham City, even if his organization was slipping.

"No cops, and no bat, so we can discuss this peacefully like gentlemen," Thorne remarked as he arranged for several hired goons to create a distraction for the Batman. They were merely assets that could be discarded at ease. Thorne fixed his expression on Cobblepot.

"Gentlemen, Thorne?" Cobblepot asked as he stared him down, the pointed tip of his umbrella maneuvered towards Thorne, who to his credit did not flinch.

"Yes Cobblepot, like gentlemen," Thorne remarked frostily as he tapped his foot on the ground. "Whilst I think that term is foreign to you, it would be prudent for us to discuss this matter like civilized humans."

"Civilized, that's rich coming from you, rich!" Cobblepot practically squawked before he turned his head towards Thorne. "Was last month's explosion at the Iceberg Lounge the act of a civilized man?"

Thorne looked displeased with these accusations coming from Cobblepot of all people and eyed him furiously.

"Now that was a random act of violence and I assure that I didn't have anything to do with it," Thorne stated as he stared this freak in the eye. "But then again, I suppose that given what I've heard about you, you jumping to conclusions is what might be expected."

"Expected, I'll show you expected," Cobblepot stated as he cracked his knuckles and prepared to knock his enemy around but managed to remain calm. "Right, civilized, perhaps you didn't know about the attack at the Iceberg Lounge. My mistake."

Thorne naturally was the one who was behind the attack and both of them knew it. Now the two of them engaged in a game of mental chess where it was uncertain who would come out on top. Both eyed each other, mentally going back and forth.

Cobblepot was the one who spoke up once again, a near snarl on his face but he reined in his anger most of the way. "We can keep this civilized like gentlemen; I believe that is the best way to go. We're businessmen, we should act like it. This can be one hundred percent professional."

"Agreed, agreed," Thorne stated as he watched him, although his men were ready to pluck the bird's wings once he had what he wanted. "Although with Black Mask out there, there is one person that we can both agree is far from civilized."

"Very true, Mr. Thorne," Cobblepot stated, despite the fact that Black Mask claimed that he was a step above the usual Arkham whackos, there was something about him that was still equally unsettling. "Shall we begin our business?"

There was a flash bang that echoed which caused the assembled group to jump up.

"The bat, but that's impossible," Thorne stated as he coughed. "I don't care….shoot him, bring him down, whoever brings me his cowl gets a promotion."

The mobsters moved around but they were knocked down with fury.

"Really, these rent-a-thugs are just sad. I mean, is this the best you can do?"

Thorne turned around and pulled out a gun but a grapnel pulled the gun from his hand and she flew forward, knocking him in the face, before bouncing back into the shadows.

"Who are you?" Cobblepot stated as he fired bullets from a gun concealed in his umbrella but she dodged the attacks, before throwing a flash bang down and blinding the Flatulent Fowl. He gave a pained squawk as he staggered.

"You haven't heard of me, I'm hurt," she quipped in mock sorrow before she dropped down and engaged her enemy in battle. "But, you will hear of me, I think. I'm Batgirl, know the name well."

Cobblepot's face contorted with a scowl before he turned his head around. "Batgirl, Batman, this city has a serious pest control problem."

"Have you looked in the mirror, fish breath?" Batgirl taunted as she rolled underneath the attack, before bouncing back off the walls. She threw two smoke pellets, homemade but they did the job.

She saw one of the thugs go down before she even attacked him. Barely, Batgirl was barely able to see the person in the shadows but a wire around the ankles of one of his enemies.

"And I thought tonight was going to be a slow night."

That was the voice of Robin who swung his staff around and brought it down onto the face of one of the thugs, staggering him back. He swept the legs out from underneath him before swinging from a hook with an acrobatic maneuver.

"Watch your back bird brain," Batgirl stated as she knocked one of the enemies back with a swift kick.

"The name's Robin!" Robin yelled in a frustrated tone of voice but Batgirl did a somersault, dodging the attacks with deft precision. "Oh come on, now that's showing off."

"No, that's strategy," Batgirl stated as the thugs were dizzied watching her own attacks.

"Cobblepot's getting away!" Batman grunted as he engaged a rather large thug in battle.

The thug found his pipe pulled from his grip rather quickly and there was a swirling motion before it was propelled back towards him.

"On it," Batgirl stated as she rushed forward.

"Hey, you're not the official partner of Batman, I'll get it!" Robin yelled as he tried to maneuver forward.

"Partner, you're his sidekick, or maybe his mascot," Batgirl retorted as she rolled her eyes and tried to go after the Penguin but his thugs moved in the way.

Before Batgirl could get her brains smashed into a pulp, Supergirl and Arcane decided to join into the battle, knocking both thugs back with a ballistic punch, an action that gave Batgirl some shock and awe. She watched them take care of business against the thugs.

Robin struggled to get his footing as he tried to grab Penguin.

"Take a nap, boy," Penguin grunted as he smacked Robin in the face with his umbrella and caused him to fly out of the helicopter that he tried to latch onto with his grapnel. "Now it's time for the brat to go splat."

Thankfully a mattress was conjured by Harry, otherwise they would have been cleaning what was left of the Boy Wonder off of the pavement.

* * *

"What you did could have got someone seriously injured."

Batman's gaze focused on Batgirl's, who managed to stare back at Batman, unblinking despite everything. She crossed her arms and inclined her head, all things considered, she thought that she took those thugs out rather well. Sure, her attacks were far from perfect, but really, when one considered everything, she could have turned out worse, much worse. She refused to even entertain the notion that things could have gone wrong.

"Hey, cut me some slack, I thought that I did fine!" Batgirl cried as she watched him but she was the receipt from her very first Batman glare. She folded her arms tighter around her. "Hey, it isn't like Turkey was doing much better there. And I thought I held my own, but…."

"Miss Gordon, I'm not in the mood to deal with this but be warned this is a serious endeavor," Batman stated and Batgirl's mouth opened and shut which caused Robin to snort with laughter.

"Gordon, you mean the Commish's kid?" Robin asked with mirth but Batman gave him a narrowed eyed glare which gave Robin his cue to shut up and he snapped his mouth shut.

"First of all I'm not a kid, I'm seventeen, almost eighteen years old, buzzard boy," Batgirl stated as she raised her fingers. "And if I'm not mistaken, it was you who let Cobblepot get away. So way to go, genius!"

"Miss Gordon, I do hope that I will not have to tell your father about your extra-curricular activities," Batman told her coldly and Batgirl's mouth opened and shut. "This is a dangerous business…."

"So you put the flying squirrel over there in tights, but I can't do anything," Batgirl objected as she threw her hands up in the air. "Or is it because I'm an independent free agent beyond your whims that you don't micro manage?"

Batman did not say anything, The Dark Knight merely watched her with narrowed eyes. Robin was a situation that he reluctantly let into his life as he stumbled upon the fact that Batman and Bruce Wayne were one and the same. Plus he had a lot in common with Dick, having lost their parents before their very eyes.

Barbara on the other hand, well there was something about her that made him think that she did not take the entire crime fighting thing all too seriously. There was a sense that she saw it as a hobby but this was not a game, this was a reality.

"Look, you didn't even see what I could do, I've made my own belt, my own gadgets, everything," Batgirl stated as she watched him but Batman turned around.

"This is a school night, Miss Gordon, I suggest you get some sleep," Batman ordered her without another word as he spun around before holding his grappling hook and he shot forward, swinging off into the distance.

"Yeah, Babs," Robin chimed in but something blunt nailed him in the back of his head which caused him to wince.

The Dynamic Duo swung into the night as Batgirl watched them leave with an exasperated sigh.

'_You have got to be kidding me,' _Batgirl thought to herself, after all of the hard work, she was back to square one. The young woman turned her head around before watching the situation.

"Don't be so hard on Mister Personality there; he's a hard ass on everyone."

Batgirl turned around, she recognized the two people standing behind her immediately. Her eyes widened as her mouth opened in an awed expression. It took a moment before she adjusted her stance and looked amazed. The redhead crime fighter barely took her gaze off the both of them and placed her hands on her hips, looking at them with an amazed expression on her face.

"Supergirl and Arcane," Batgirl remarked in an amazed tone of voice. "Um thank you."

"Thank you for what?" Arcane asked, deciding to hopefully get her to relax a little bit.

Barbara could have smacked herself, once again she almost outed her secret identity but that was not the worst part. The worst part was that she made a fool out of herself in front of these two heroes. She did want to thank them for their small part in rescuing her from the League of Shadows and their thugs last year. The redhead girl threw her head up and offered a long and poignant sigh.

"Never….just never mind."

'_Open mouth, insert foot, Babs."_

Barbara threw her head back with a long sigh but the blonde dropped down before her.

"We heard something before they went off," Supergirl remarked as came face to face with the young woman across from her.

"Oh did you?"

She didn't mean to sound too confrontational; it just popped out that way.

"Sorry!"

"It's alright," Kara told her with a smile, she sensed the nerves coming from the statement of the young woman and tried to ease them the best they could. "Just be warned that things might get a bit trickier from here but we might be able to find out where they're going."

Harry wondered if they should even be getting involved in the matters that were present in Gotham City. This was kind of out of their jurisdiction as Heralds of Death. Then again, perhaps there was no point. The young wizard turned his head to the young would be crime fighter who crossed her arms and inclined her head.

"If you think that I can help…."

I'm not going to lie, you have potential but it's hard for you to get things done right in this city," Harry added as he watched Barbara with a raised eyebrow. "And all things considered, you could have been a lot worse. In fact all things considered you could have been a whole lot worse worse."

Barbara took that for what it was a compliment.

"Now what you two learned?"

Kara and Harry prepared to fill Barbara in on the information that they could, as the trio prepared to make their way across Gotham City. They were in the outfits that hid them and protected their identities but learning how to trust each other was the first step on the road to victory. It was all about collaboration and that meant that it was all about teamwork between the three of them.

* * *

Black Mask was not one who was going to mess around while other men played political games. If he learned one thing in Gotham City that was that he needed to go straight for the throat and take what was his. That was a lesson that he learned more times than he cared to remember and that was a lesson that he would take the grave. His fingers cracked for an instant before he turned his head around.

"This city is ours."

Black Mask got more than a few cheers from his henchmen, the fellow members of his gang.

"And you know why this city is ours?"

No one dared speak up, they knew better when Black Mask spoke, it was time for them to shut up. It was time for them to sit down, shut up, and take notice to what the man said. He had shot his own men for sneezing, that was how ruthless he was. There was nothing that Black Mask would not do and there was nothing that he would not accomplish in the name of his pursuit to put Gotham City underneath his boot.

"This city is ours now!"

There was another raucous cheer that echoed around them and the expression of discontent between Black Mask's mask would not quite be obvious to those who are around them. He cracked his knuckles, people speculated what lied between his mask. The truth might as well have terrified most people; it was a ghastly horror beneath those eyes. He drummed his fingers on the handrail.

"We have an equalizer," Black Mask continued as he motioned for two of his men to push out the crate before him.

The crate flipped open and Black Mask eyed the contents of the crate, a smug expression filling his face, even if one could not see it underneath the mask. There was something about this new cargo that was amazing. It would allow him to increase the abilities of his men to match or exceed the limits of anyone, no matter what strength they had. There was only one thing for his men to do and that was to throw their hands into the air with loud cheers.

"So who wants a taste?" Black Mask asked to his men and they all nodded their heads, although they did not quite know what they're getting into.

'_Should we get involved,' _Kara thought to Harry through the mental link but the wizard shook his head.

'_We better wait for him,' _Harry informed her mentally and there was a drumming sound.

"Not until my signal," Harry whispered to Batgirl who shrugged and shifted guiltily.

"Yeah, right, sorry," Batgirl stated as she stood on the catwalk but she had items ready on her belt. She breathed in and out once, followed by twice, trying to keep her bearings and keep herself from landing with a splat on the ground.

"You two test subjects will do nicely."

Harry performed a scanning charm from above, seeing what was in the vials. He could tell without doing anything that it was some kind of performance drug, then he saw that it spiked the adrenaline, numbed the pain receptors, increased strength, and increased the opponent to three times their normal size. Not to mention it made them super fast.

"Our new business partner was generous enough to give us some free samples," Black Mask stated as he loaded up the syringe.

"How about you get a free sample of my fist, Black Mask?"

Harry sighed in an exasperated tone, that was not quite on his signal but that would have to be close enough he guessed. He joined Kara on the ground along with Batgirl.

"Well if it isn't the bat brat, you've been given trouble to all my men," Black Mask stated as a trio of armored thugs rushed forward to lay a beatdown on Batgirl. "Make sure she has a nice solid welcome, boys."

The armored thugs rushed Batgirl but she dodged.

"Really, did you guys just get off the short bus with that plan?" Batgirl asked as she dodged the attacks and Harry and Kara took out one of the armored thugs, causing him to clatter to the ground with a thump. She offered a smile and a shrug but she got this one.

'_Shouldn't be too hard,' _Kara thought as she closed her eyes.

'_No it shouldn't, but oddly enough it is,' _Harry though as they launched themselves forwards.

There was a loud scream and Black Mask injected two of his gang members with the drugs. They snarled, their muscles rippling and they stamped forward, before going towards their enemies.

'_Oh this is going to suck.'_

That thought went through Batgirl's head before one of the monster's fists nearly did. There was something about these drugs that were far different from the rest. She tried to nail it with a tranquilizer she made but it didn't take.

"Move!"

Batgirl didn't need telling twice as Supergirl flew into the thug with all of the speed and force they mustered.

"These guys, they don't have much of a life expectancy on them, in fact, they'll die in a couple of minutes," Kara managed as the monster wrapped his hands around her throat tightly and squeezed. She struggled and kicked her way towards her enemy, before Harry knocked him in the ribs.

The monster slid back as Black Mask got away with the crate. Two in one night, Harry was not having what one would call a good night. This time he slipped a tracking charm on one of the goons.

"Out of the way!"

Batgirl, brazen and bold, jumped on the back of one of the thugs and tried to take him down but she flew backwards. Landing on the ground, she dropped to one knee, holding her face, and breathing heavily.

"One side!" Supergirl yelled as she tried to knock her enemy down again but the thug grabbed her around the head before pushing.

"Already dead huh?" Harry asked as he closed his eyes before nodding. "Yeah, my lifeline says it's up."

There was a huge slash of his energy scythe and down went the goon. Harry barely had to tap the goon before it exploded into a shower of blood and guts. Kara did the same thing with a huge punch to knock him down.

"Well that was a bust," Batgirl responded but Harry shook his head.

"Not exactly," Harry responded as he prepared to pick up the trail once again of their erstwhile gangsters.

* * *

"Okay, Black Mask said he a partner," Supergirl concluded after she racked over all the information in her mind that she learned. The blonde screwed her eyes shut before she threw her head back and crossed her arms before giving a long and labored sigh. "Do we have any idea who it might be?"

Batgirl had no idea but she had a feeling that there was someone who did. At least that's what she interpreted. The problem as she saw it was that this person was not someone who was willingly going to give up information, especially to her. The redhead crimefighter understood that much, she was not on the Batman's good list and after her near blunder in there, she supposed she could hardly fault him.

"I have a theory."

Harry opened up the line of communication to the Shining Light Foundation.

"Hey, Chloe, are you busy?" Harry asked on the other end of the communication link.

"Not as such, no," Chloe responded with curiosity brimming through her voice. "What do you need?"

Harry was only too quick to give his wife the information that she needed. "Feed the information through now, I want to see if the computers can make heads or tails of these components."

"Just one second," Chloe responded as she patched through the information that Harry wired her.

If his theory was correct, and Harry did not doubt that it was, then someone had some explaining to do. And not the good type of explaining, the painful type of explaining.

"Okay, I've got something, you better….oh boy this isn't good," Chloe remarked with a poignant sigh.

"Spit it out, I can take it," Harry answered through the communication link and Chloe was the one who gave Harry the information whether he liked it or not.

"Okay, some of the components in this little cocktail, they're part of plants that are reverse engineered to grow here on Earth," Chloe responded and there was no need for Chloe to say anything more because Harry and Kara heard plenty.

"So this is someone you know judging by the looks on your face?"

Batgirl stated that statement in a half of a question and half of a statement. There was some time before she was answered.

"We've had dealings yes."

"So they are working with criminals in Gotham but for what end?"

Harry knew that Batman was behind him for the last two minutes but he wondered when he was going to speak up. The Dark Knight turned around and Harry met his gaze, the two of them going pretty much face to face.

"I'm not sure, but I'm sure that Black Mask is getting something out of the deal," Arcane stated as he went face to face with the Bat.

"And there is much more to learn from an autopsy, than anything," Supergirl responded, closing her eyes.

Batman knew that the Kandorians were going to cause some kind of trouble and he made his preparations. The true information was within the Shining Light Foundation.

"It would be prudent for you to share any information that you know about the Kandorians," Batman responded to them as his eyes narrowed.

Harry did not back down at all. "Confidential, I took an oath, unlike some I take that seriously."

Robin whistled, as he saw the two stubborn forces, both similar in many ways, about ready to butt heads. It was really a spectacle to see the two of them go face to face, about ready to go at it and rip each other apart.

"I need to know."

"It's being handled," Harry responded, as he matched Batman's tone.

"The mission…."

"Yes, I realize about your mission but the Kandorians are a special case."

"If they get in my way…."

"I know what you're going to do. You do what you feel like you have to do, and I do what I have do."

"What about that solar tower?" Batman asked him but it was Kara who got in his face.

"You really don't want to go there, do you, Bats?" Kara asked in a confrontational voice.

Batman understood that they had certain intentions in mind but there were times where they had to look at things from his perspective. And that perspective was that the Kandorians put people in danger more often than he could count. He cracked his knuckles and looked tense.

Batgirl waited to get another Batman lecture or maybe a Batman glare of doom but nothing occurred. She supposed that it would work out like that.

"One more thing."

Chloe popped up with some more information, Harry almost forgot that he had her online but forgetting about that might be a problem. The wizard closed his eyes as he prepared to let Chloe relay the information.

"What is that one more thing?"

Chloe decided to impart the information on him. "The drug is rather unstable, it won't only kill anyone who is injected with it, but it's also highly explosive."

The day had gotten from bad to worse but then again, that was another day in the life of Harry Potter. The Heralds of Death, along with Batman, Robin, and Batgirl knew what their mission was, they would have to figure out what Black Mask's endgame was.

Little did they know that there were more players on the chessboard.

"We have another problem," Batman stated as he got a message on a police scanner.

"Just the one?" Arcane asked him but Batman turned to him with a narrowed eyed look.

"A police squad lead by Commissioner Gordon went in to take down one of Black Mask's operations but they ran into someone else," Batman stated which caused Batgirl to gasp.

"Is my f….is Commissioner Gordon okay?" Batgirl asked as she tried to remain calm.

"I don't know," Batman stated in a stoic voice.

"Who did this?" Batgirl asked him but once again Batman did not answer.

He knew who it was; he knew who was behind this. It was a man that both he and Gordon once called a friend, who they once made a pact with to help clean up crime and corruption in Gotham City.

* * *

"So, did you get past them?"

A warehouse formally belonging to Carmine Falcone was where this meeting was held. There was a figure that stood in the shadows, that gave this declaration in a gruff tone. The type of tone that many criminals heard before, although they weren't working for this guy before.

"Worked like a charm, boss."

"For your sake, it better have."

The man held out one hand from the shadows and started to flip the coin in his hand causing it to go up into the air and land on his hand. He flipped the coin once, twice, three times, all in succession. The goons watched his progression nervously, knowing that he could lash out at any time and it would be all over for them.

"You know what I don't like boys."

"What boss?"

The goons looked nervously, they had heard rumors about the boss, he made decisions based off a whim. There were times where he was of two minds. The shadows hid one side of his face, one of his hands, although they saw a flicker of it. Scarred and nasty, the goons were unable to really make out much more than that.

"I don't like a bunch of rats."

"Rats, boss, I don't know what you're talking about?"

"Word is on the street that some of my boys have been sniffing around looking for a spot with Black Mask or the Penguin," the man in the shadows stated as he continued to flick his coin into the air and catch it over and over again. "I knew you lot were a bunch of rats the moment I saw you, when I was the DA. But you're worse than rats; you're the lowest form of the low, scum, no question about it."

There was a nervous chuckle from one of the thugs.

"Boss, you know we're good, we're not going to sell you out, we're better than that."

"See, I believe ya, but does the coin?"

They watched the progress of the silver dollar before it flipped into the air and landed. He slapped it down on his palm.

"Guess, you were lucky today," the man in the shadows stated and the thug that he gave a reprieve to let out a breath. The other one did as well but the man in the shadows held up his hand. "Now, let's see about you."

The man flipped the coin into the air and the thug watched nervously, feeling a drying sensation in his mouth. His heart thumped across his ribcage and his fingers went numb. He closed his eyes and waited for the coin to drop into the palm of his hand.

The coin flipped over and landed on the hand of the man in the shadows. The thug let out the breath he was holding.

"So how was it?"

"Not good."

BANG!

The thug was shot in the head at point blank range.

"Nothing personal but the only law that matters now in my courtroom is the law of averages," the man stated before he stepped forward, holding the silver dollar between his fingers. It was double headed but one side had a scratch on it.

Half of his face, was burned off, there were hints of dark hair on the other side. Once, Harvey Dent had been one of the most beloved District Attorneys in all of Gotham City, extremely handsome and charismatic, but thanks to an accident, half of his face was burned off. The loss of his movie star good looks snapped his mind, not that he was sane. When he was younger, he had a dark side that he tried to repress, and well it came out.

His father beat him when he was younger, called him worthless. He always made him flip for it. Heads, Harvey got a beating, tails, well he got to walk away without a scratch. It seemed like a fair deal, a fifty-fifty shot.

The problem was that the coin had two heads, it was a trick coin. Therefore every day for as long as he could remember, Harvey got the beatings until his father drank himself to death when Harvey was a teenager.

His father was a two faced bastard.

And now Harvey was Two-Face too.

"Batman, Robin, Batgirl, Supergirl, Arcane, Gordon, Black Mask, Thorne, Penguin, none of them can run from the law of averages in my city," Two-Face stated as he flipped the coin and it landed. He made his decision. "We ransom the cops."

Let the games begin.

**To Be Continued in Part Two. **


	16. Chapter 16: Beware the Batgirl Part Two

**Chapter Sixteen: Beware the Batgirl Part Two.**

Gotham City was a city where crime never slept, there was always something going on in it. However, they would need a protector that never slept as well and thankfully they had one in the World's Greatest Detective himself. Batman never slept, he merely waited and watched for crime as it happened. He swooped down from the shadows, ready to prey on the criminal element in Gotham City. They truly were a superstitious and cowardly lot and the Dark Knight was about ready to go after them with all of the fury one would expect for one who prowled the night.

Case in point, the World's Greatest Detective hung one of his enemies by the ankles and swung him from one side to the other. His feet kicked and he swayed from one side to the other. Batman stared in his face and practically snarled.

"Where is Harvey Dent?"

The question was direct and to the point, just like Batman operated. He never fooled around. The thug was forty feet up, a straight drop to the pavement below and he twitched but somehow, someway, he found a set of balls at the worst possible time. He turned around and stared down Batman, with a fearless expression on his face before he spat out a few words.

"I don't think you're going to do it."

"I beg your pardon," Batman growled but the thug was only too happy to repeat that statement for the Dark Knight to hear.

"I don't think you have the guts to do it," the thug responded as he turned towards Batman and looked up. "You see, this creature of the night act, it's a front, you can't do it, hero. You won't let me drop so I ain't gonna to tell you nothing."

Kara stepped over, grabbing the thug around the ankles, she continued to dangle him upside down, and turned to Batman.

"You are losing your touch."

She shot into the air faster than a speeding bullet and flew the thug around the city a few times at super speed. Not enough to kill him mind you but it was more than enough to disorient and discombobulate him. The thug screamed at the top of his lungs as Kara took him for a ride that he'd never forget as long as he lived. The thug was about ready to wet himself as Kara flung him around.

"Please, give me back to the bat, take me back to him, you're crazy!" the thug whimpered as Kara held the thug up.

"Tell me where Dent is or she'll take you higher," Batman responded as Harry, Batgirl, and Robin all watched in amusement.

"And Batman is the lesser of two evils," Robin remarked in a low tone of voice with a shrug.

"Never thought I'd see the day," Batgirl answered as she watched them but Supergirl started letting him go, until she only held him up by her pinky finger.

Granted she had the strength to do so but the fact that her finger might accidentally slip was a sobering experience for any thug. Especially this thug who was shaking in his boots and whimpering like a scared little girl, or he would be, but Kara swore that she saw scared little girls who wouldn't go to pieces like this.

"Losing my patience," Kara hissed harshly as her eyes began to glow and the thug nearly soiled himself.

The thug was glad that he was native to Gotham City because dealing with Supergirl on a regular basis was a scary thought. At least the Batman was rather calm in his sadistic torturing, this woman was absolutely nuts. The thug swayed one side to the other, struggling to get out of the grip of the blonde, as he tried to kick away but stopped.

"Let me go!" the thug stated and Kara began to relax her grip which caused the thug to lose his fudge. "NO DON'T LET ME GO, DON'T LET ME GO!"

The thug wept as Kara held him steadily but there was a hint that she might drop him if he pissed her off more.

"Are you going to cooperate now?" Batman asked the thug without missing a beat and the World's Greatest Detective spun around, eying the thug with careful precision.

"Yes, yes, sir, of course, sir, I don't….please don't hurt me, I'm too young to die," the thug whimpered in a terrified tone of voice and Kara held him by the toes, flinging him from one side to the other.

"So Dent, where is he?" Batman demanded in his gruffest voice and this time the thug was only too happy to spill the beans. There was a dangerous drop all of the way down and the thug did not want to splat on the pavement. His heart beat steadily.

"Alright, you know that place off of fourth, word is on the street that Two Face has the pigs holed up there. He's there and….I'm not sure what he wants, some kind of ransom. He wants two million dollars worth of two dollar bills delivered in two briefcases at two after two in the morning."

"Someone's got a fetish," Batgirl remarked with a whistle but she got the Batman glare and Kara kept holding the thug, dangling him in the air.

"Anything else we should know?" Batman asked to the thug who was whimpering like a scared little mouse. The fact they could hear him practically squeak was kind of pathetic all things considered.

"Yeah, no, I mean yes, I mean, I don't know," the thug stated in a terrified tone as he quivered and Kara held him by the shoelace which was slipping out of his shoe. "He has a meeting with Black Mask….some kind of deal going down."

'_Dent wouldn't do a deal with Black Mask….unless that's his plan all along,' _Batman thought to himself but he did not say anything out loud.

Kara placed the thug down, making sure he was crotched quite painfully on a stone gargoyle, and she secured him so he could be picked up by the police. He was some random guy who was not worthy of the oxygen that he was allowed. The blonde stepped back with all of them.

"Remind me to stay on your good side," Batgirl remarked as she broke the silence.

"Don't worry, you'll know if you aren't," Supergirl responded but there was a slight smile on her face.

Harry had to agree, his wife was scarier than Batman but now they had to move on to the next part of the equation. The group was ready.

"Let's move out, we need to make sure Two Face doesn't pull the trigger," Batman said coldly although he knew that Two-Face was ruled by his quirks, one of those quirks being the coin that he flipped time and time again.

The group moved out, although they did wonder what was going to happen next.

* * *

"I do not like playing games, Dent."

Black Mask and his gang turned up for the meeting at the warehouse, just an hour before Two Face was going to make his demands for the cops. He knew what he wanted, but word slipped out onto the street. Two million dollars worth of two dollar bills delivered in two briefcases at two after two in the morning by the Dynamic Duo at his warehouse at Twenty Two Second Street on the second floor.

Two Face knew the nature of duality and he also knew the nature of the man before him, Black Mask stood before him, eyes narrowed and a sharp expression, as his knuckles cracked a tiny bit. Black Mask turned his head towards him and he watched Dent.

It was hard to tell which man's stare had more hatred for the other. Both of them knew that there was a certain amount on the line.

"No games," Dent growled in his voice as he held his coin and began to flip it into the air and then made it land on his palm. He did not look at it, not yet.

"I must say, we've run around a few times but now the stakes are different," Black Mask responded as he stood on the ground. "Thorne and Cobblepot, they're wasting time with each other, but we're going to be dividing up the big parts of the city. While they sink into the ground."

"So you're offering me a partnership?" Dent asked in a gruff and gravelly tone of voice and Black Mask inclined his head towards him.

"Yes, are you willing to take it?" Black Mask asked him as he crossed his arms.

Black Mask narrowed his eyes towards Dent. The former District Attorney stood to be a thorn in his side constantly but the crime boss did not back off for an instant. He would have it, he would have it all. Black Mask felt the city in the palm of his hands.

"In due time, I'll have an answer," Two Face responded as he flipped his coin and it landed on his palm. He flipped his coin once again. One of these times the flip was going to be official.

"Can't make a decision without that piece of silver, can you?" Black Mask asked, his men held guns towards him but Two Face growled as he watched him. "Be a man Dent, man up and grow some balls. Then again, you are half the man that you used to be."

"A real comedian, aren't you, Mask?" Two Face growled as he stared down his rival. He wished to clean up Gotham City and put the mobs under one mob boss, that being him. The ideals of Harvey Dent was twisted and corrupted into this. The nature of his mind snapping was not a pretty thing to say the very least and Dent cracked his knuckles as he prepared for the next step of the game.

Black Mask stared back at Two Face, both of them glared at each other, it was hard to determine which set of eyes simmered with more hatred. Neither was in a pleasant frame of mind and Mask's eyes narrowed, before he looked back at the would-be gangster and former district attorney.

"So is this a private get together or can anyone show up?"

"Thorne," Black Mask growled but Two Face spun around as he saw Rupert Thorne walk in with his men.

"This better not be a double cross," Two Face growled, this piece of garbage was the last person he wanted to see now.

"Now no need to be cross Harvey," Thorne responded in a brisk tone of voice. "It's just gentlemen conducting business."

"Gentleman pshaw."

That was the voice of Oswald Cobblepot who turned up following Thorne; his umbrella gun pointing at his enemies and the goons in his gang walked beside him. All four sides stared each other down, there was about to be a rumble and the bloodshed was not going to be pretty.

"The bat, the bird, and the brat aren't here, so there's no reason why we can't conduct business like gentlemen," Thorne commented briskly as he turned his eyes towards the store room.

"Yeah, Gordon and his men are in there, what's it to you?" Two Face snapped but Thorne grinned.

"Just checking, Dent," Thorne responded briskly, he had his own plans for what he wanted to do and when the time was right, he would strike. The mobster leaned back slightly, drumming his fingers off the side of the panel and twisted his head around.

Cobblepot waited, he knew by now not to trust the criminal element of this city, they were both vile and crass, not refined like Cobblepot was. He considered himself to be a complete gentleman, no question about it. The foul fowl tapped his umbrella on the ground and threw his head back before he gave a squawking laugh. He turned his head and crossed his arms before he peered to the ceiling.

"Ready or not, I'd imagine," Cobblepot remarked in a brisk tone of voice but there was an explosion that signaled some of the goons were taken out.

"A trap, which one of your stooges sold us out?" Dent demanded as he held out his gun and pointed it at Thorne, Cobblepot, and Black Mask in turn.

"Hey, keep that thing out of my face."

"ANSWER THE FUCKING QUESTION!"

Dent got in the face of Cobblepot but his feet were taken down out underneath him by a grapnel.

Penguin pointed his umbrella, trying to get a fix on the person but there was a blur that shot from the rafters. The whirling fist nailed Penguin to the face and caused him to fly down into the walls with a huge thump. The foul mobster rolled over and clutched the side of his head, as Thorne pointed to his men.

They began to fire at her but a line of heat vision took care of their guns. Harry dropped down to face his enemies and wiped them out with a fury, sending the mobsters into the wall. The wizard twisted his position around before he shot two thick cords from his hands and they wrapped around the enemies. The wizard backed up before he propelled himself back to the ground.

Black Mask turned around and Batman dove at him with a punch. The mobster blocked it and pulled a pipe off of the wall. The World's Greatest Detective blocked it and Robin repelled down, to distract the mobster.

A huge rocket buster of a punch knocked Black Mask down to the ground. Batman picked up Black Mask and flung him halfway across the warehouse, before he pulled out a gun.

"Don't just stand there Dent, help us out," Black Mask growled but Dent flipped his coin.

"You're on your own," Dent informed him as he motioned his way out the door and a few of his men followed him out the door.

"Oh no you don't."

Batgirl launched herself forward and knocked two of them down to the ground. The woman rolled around the attacks and Supergirl propelled herself down, using her super breath to knock them back into the grip of Harry, who flung them down with a vicious clothesline.

"These guys are getting away," Robin remarked as he bounced off the walls, wrapping one of the thungs up, following up this assault by drilling his knee into the back of the head.

"You think?" Batgirl asked as she grasped the arm of one of the thugs before twisting it around and slamming his face onto the floor.

'_They won't get that far,' _Harry thought as he got Black Mask with a tracking charm as he tried to get away, as Batman and Robin released the captured police officers from the room that they were trapped in

* * *

Black Mask arrived at his warehouse, he knew Thorne, Cobblepot, and their henchmen were all wrapped up, Dent slipped in the backdoor, and made his way towards him.

"BANG!"

Black Mask flew forwards as he was shot in the back of the leg. He dropped face first to the ground and rolled over, breathing heavily before Dent stood over him. He watched him with a gravelly voice and held the silver dollar in his hand.

"Wanted to shoot you in the back of the head, but I lost the coin toss," Two Face informed him.

"You bastard!" Black Mask cursed as he tried to pull himself down up to his feet but he collapsed. The blood splashed from the wound in the back of his leg. The former district attorney turned twisted criminal, twirling the coin between his fingers.

"Yes, I'm a bastard, so what?" Two-Face growled him before he dropped down to one knee and he rolled Black Mask over and held the gun to his temple. "Where is it?"

"Where's what?" Black Mask asked as Two-Face growled before he kept the gun on his head, teasing that he was about to pull the trigger.

"Don't play games with me, don't you dare fucking play games with me!" Two-Face growled as he looked to be a flash of temper away from pulling the trigger. "The drug, I want it."

"So that's what you want all along," Black Mask growled as he pushed himself up but Two-Face placed his foot down onto the chest of him and kept the gun trained on his enemy. "That's what you wanted this whole time."

"Yes," Two Face grunted as his glare became nasty. "You better give me or you're not going to get out of here in one piece."

"Maybe the coin will make me be lucky," Black Mask stated with a snarl, almost baiting Two Face and rather mocking him to the fact. He had no fear, he knew that there was a fifty-fifty shot and there was always a chance that he would be able to try and get himself out of this situation. He twisted out from underneath the foot of Two Face, offering a spasm as he did so.

Two Face waited and twisted his hand before he turned it around.

"Maybe you'll be lucky but do you want to gamble your life on chance?"

Black Mask trained his eyes on the criminal, trying to figure out whether Two Face would flip the coin or simply shoot him. The criminal watched him as he stepped back, before he stomped on his fingers angrily.

"It's in there isn't it?" Two-Face asked as he flipped the coin. "You got lucky, you bastard."

Two-Face walked around but two of his thugs stepped in and trained their guns on the body of Black Mask. He was not going to be able to leave any time soon, alive at least. Two Face stepped forward and grabbed the edge of the garage door. He pulled it up, straining to do so but after a moment the door was ripped open.

The doors were opened and Two Face scowled before he saw the supplies. They were in canisters and he could not wait to open them up.

"Worth a couple Mil, wouldn't you say, Mask?" Two Face asked him in a gravelly taunt of a voice but Mask did not respond, rather he scowled back at Two Face. "Not going to say anything…no problem because I got what I've…."

Batman swooped down but Two Face dodged the attempt to contain him.

"Dent, you need help!"

"No, Batman, this time I don't," Two-Face stated as he nailed Batman in the ribs with a stiff shot. The World's Greatest Detective dodged the attacks. "And Dent's dead, the bastard didn't have the nuts to clean up this city. You're dealing with me now, get over it."

Two-Face grabbed Batman around the neck and slammed him against a metal door but a blinding flash knocked him back. The Dark Knight held back, not wanting to injure his old friend.

"You used to believe in the law, believe in justice," Batman responded as Two-Face swung a crowbar at him. The Dark Knight avoided two shots with the crowbar, as the criminal was intent of caving his skull in. "The city believed in Harvey Dent!"

"Bah, they didn't believe in anything, only believed that I could clean up the messes that they made but now the only law that matters to me is the law of averages," Two-Face stated as he shot Batman.

Batman went down, clipped in the knee cap. His armor blocked most of the bullet but still it was wise for him to go down.

"The canisters, where are they?"

Two-Face saw that the canisters that he sought, the drug, the performance enhancer, it was gone and there was nothing there, gone without a trace. He stepped down onto the ground and Batman staggered to his feet.

"You did something, didn't you?" Two Face demanded as he glared at Batman with pure hatred. "Answer me!"

Batman didn't answer him.

"ANSWER ME YOU BASTARD!"

"Get ahold of yourself, Dent," Batman responded as he watched him but Two-Face flipped his coin into the air.

A spell blasted the coin and caused it to multiply into several hundred silver dollars at once.

"NO!"

Two-Face could not believe it; he could not make a decision, not without his coin. Yet there were too many of them on the ground, some of them landed good side up, some of them landed bad side up. He knew that he needed to shoot Batman but without the coin, his coin, his one coin, it wouldn't be right, it wouldn't be just.

"YOU BASTARD"

Batgirl dropped down from the rafters and took out Two Face. His goons followed with a series of thuds, dropped down to the ground and unable to help him.

'_That was for my father, you bastard,' _Batgirl thought as the hero curb stomped him in the face before she made sure Two-Face was secured.

Commissioner Gordon showed up, speaking of the man, walking fairly well despite his ordeal. The Gotham City police commissioner moved forward and turned towards Batman, who offered a slight limp but did not show much of it.

"So, you've taken out?" Gordon grunted and Batman inclined his head in agreement. "Hopefully we'll be able to figure out what went wrong with him."

"Let's hope," Batman agreed with a stoic nod.

"Good work, all of you," Gordon stated to the others, although Supergirl and Arcane slipped into the shadows.

"No problem…um Commish," Batgirl stated, trying to disguise her voice so her father did not pick it up.

Gordon eyed Batgirl before he placed his hands on his hips and watched her, carefully trying to analyze the situation. There was something off about it, the Gotham City commissioner looked at her.

For a brief second, Barbara blinked and wondered if her father had caught on to her but he turned around.

'_Another redhead, what are the odds?' _Gordon thought to himself as he walked away to make sure all of the goons were wrapped up.

This was an intense night but given some of the connections of some of these men, he feared that they would be back on the street within the next week.

* * *

Batgirl stood at the edge of the rooftop, her arms folded before she shifted her position. After a few moments, she sat perched on the gargoyle and was now deep in thought. The redhead placed her hands on her chin before she threw her head back. The woman turned her head around before the young detective placed her feet on the ground.

Supergirl dropped down on one side of her with a smile on her face. Arcane joined both of the girls a second later as they sat with each other. There were a few moments of silence between the three of them. Time ticked by before Batgirl decided to be the one who broke the silence that existed between the group. In some ways it unsettled her to be this silent for this long.

"So….that was fun wasn't it?"

"Amazing," Supergirl commented with a smile crossing her face.

"We should do this again sometime, I guess," Batgirl chimed in as she watched both of them for their responses and Arcane smiled back at her.

"Yes, I guess," Supergirl said before she could not resist speaking up. "Do you really want to see me throw people around again?"

Batgirl could not resist smiling before spoke in a bright voice.

"You might have gotten a little extreme but it worked," Batgirl offered her in a bright tone of voice.

Batgirl thought that she had a lot to learn because in many ways she was a work in progress. She tried to get some things done but she was in way over her head. The redhead woman placed her hands down on her face and threw her head back with a long sigh before she turned around and watched everything around them on the city.

She would like to say that the gang war was done but she knew better, oh boy did she ever know better. The gang war never was over, not in a city like Gotham. In fact it was just about to begin and she wondered what happened now.

Batman turned up behind them.

"So, how's the leg?" Arcane asked in a casual tone of voice.

"Fine," Batman responded as he stepped forward. "An interesting tactic to take down Dent."

"His psychosis was easily exploited," Arcane remarked as he placed his hands on his chin and rocked back slightly. The World's Greatest Detective nodded before he leaned forward to face the other hero.

"Most of them are most of the time."

That was one thing that Batman learned when he fought some of the members of his rogue's gallery. He placed his hands on the side of the wall before he crossed his legs and perched up next to them. He hoped for some kind of redemption for some of the people that he went against. There were tortured souls out there in the world and every one of them were dangerous, the World's Greatest Detective felt that by throwing them in Arkham or Blackgate, they might stew for a while but they would go out.

The mission was only over when the war was over.

For obvious reasons, Harvey was far more different. This was a man that he knew when the cowl was off. He went through much with him and now he was twisted into something, something different. Batman looked out into the city, tonight even if there was a fraction of Harvey left in his body, he wanted to save him.

Could he save the world?

The world's greatest Detective turned his head before he swung around.

"So the drug has been rounded up?" Batman asked, pulling himself out of his musings. He was a bit disenchanted that he got pulled into those thoughts.

"Yes, and we're going to track down the source," Supergirl responded as she swayed from side to side, her hands on her face and she closed her eyes.

It was unfortunate what the Kandorians were doing out of their desperation.

'_Do you think that we should do it?' _Kara thought to Harry and Harry turned towards her, with a raised eyebrow.

'_Give them their powers,' _Harry thought back to Kara as he turned his head around and offered a long and depressing sigh. _'Don't think I haven't thought about that. Both the benefits and the consequences of it.'_

'_Yeah, I hear you,' _Kara thought back to them before she grabbed Harry around the arm before she swung back and forth, hovering in the air. The blonde swayed from one side to the next.

'_I hope that we're doing the right thing, the lifeline reader is weird with them,' _Harry thought back to Kara and she need not ask. There were times where the lifeline reader was white, gold, grey, or black, with red being undesirables that they had to knock off.

The Kandorians were purple which did not have any relevance in the Lifeline reader scanner. Harry and Kara, along with Karen, racked their brains regarding the situation. All three of them went through the Shining Light Foundation super computer.

"You know what they represent, you might not be able to save them," Batman remarked but Arcane turned towards him with a raised eyebrow.

"You aren't the only one who fights a never ending mission," Arcane stated crisply to Batman and both stubborn forces stared down each other.

Arcane thought that some of the Kandorians were beginning to look past Zod. Whether or not they were looking towards him as some kind of leader, he had no idea. All Harry needed to do was figure out a way to remind the Kandorians that they had options. They could have new lives here. Harry knew what they were capable of and he knew what it was like to hide in the shadows. In a world that barely understood someone because of what they are and did not bother to understand who they are.

Harry knew that it was time to talk to Zod. The solar towers would be online next week and he would not need much of an excuse to have a meeting.

"So we'll meet up again?" Batgirl asked and Supergirl turned towards her with a smile.

"Yes, we'll meet again, trust me," Supergirl responded with a bright grin over her face.

* * *

Luthorcorp was what might consider to be a neutral territory between Harry and Zod.

"So they're….they're going to that much of an extreme to get their powers back?" Tess asked Harry as the two of them walked down the hallways towards the meeting room after he briefed her on tonight's events.

"I hate to accuse anyone of anything," Harry remarked before he turned around before he looked out the windows. "But what I've encountered in Gotham City, there is someone dangerous out there and they are using the gangsters as guinea pigs."

Tess was keeping a close eye on the Kandorians but they were close to slipping away completely. The young woman walked beside Harry, wondering how Zod was going to spin this one around. She had a feeling that it was going to be spun and she had an inkling that she was not going to like the results.

Zod waited in the meeting room, sipping on a cool drink, dressed in a suit.

"Miss Mercer, Mr. Potter, a good evening to you," Zod remarked in a cool and crisp voice but Harry dropped the newspaper that detailed the drug bust in Gotham City in front of him along with a folder. "I beg your pardon."

"Read the results, I'm sure you'll be able to pick them up," Harry informed him as he eyed Zod.

Zod opened up the results and kept a calm expression on his face. The young Major was not someone who got rattled for any reason whatsoever and he read through the damning readings.

"This…this drug was a foolish attempt to give someone unnatural abilities that they should not be capable of," Zod responded without breaking his tone as he eyed Harry.

"The knowledge used to create it was Kryptonian science and Kryptonian science alone," Harry stated to Zod in a crisp voice.

Zod raised an eyebrow. "Are you saying that I made this drug, Harry?"

The tone of familiarity Zod used it threw him off but Harry was not going to be denied. He kept pushing himself forward and kept his eyes on Zod's face.

"Not as such no," Harry remarked in a voice which carefully kept all accusations at a minimum. He did not want to start any hostilities with Zod but he was not going to roll over for the man.

He took a quick peak into the base thoughts of the man, something that he vowed to never do unless absolutely necessary. Zod had no thoughts that were too frantic and Harry pulled away without another word.

"I can assure you that I did not make it personally nor did I order anyone to make it or I didn't have any knowledge of it until you brought it to my attention," Zod stated as he looked thoughtful, whoever made this was sloppy and it was an effort that twisted his stomach around. "But I do have a concern about one of our own."

Harry wondered when this subject was going to come up but he remained cool and calm before inviting Zod to continue. The young major took this as his cue to speak.

"The son of Jor-El, I encountered him briefly the other day," Zod commented as he watched Harry. "I didn't want to be the one to tell you this but he may be a liability to our cause."

Harry wondered if Zod would ever stir up what fixed to be an extremely volatile hornet's nest already. The situation with Clark, well there was a marked improvement since his father was killed in front of his eyes. At least that's what Harry heard from Lois, he had other things to worry about. They were given explicit instructions never to contact Harry about anything regarding Clark unless it was a dire emergency and Clark did not step one foot towards the Shining Light Foundation.

In fact, Harry did not even encounter him at the Planet recently.

"How so?"

The ball was back in Zod's court. "He wouldn't understand what we are doing. I think that he blames me for the death of Jor-El. But I can assure you that I didn't have anything to do with it. You know that."

Tess, who remained silent until this moment, wondered if Zod was saying this just to cover himself. She saw that he played a very close game.

"The satellites will be up by next week, I suspect," Zod commented as he watched Harry and Tess. Both of them locked eyes with each other.

"They will be up by next week, on the dot, right on schedule," Harry commented to him and Zod inclined his head, a smile crossed his face.

It was painfully obvious to Harry now that Zod thought he outmaneuvered the Herald of Death. He who laughs lasts laughs the hardest or something along those lines. The wizard thought about how everything was hooked to the Shining Light Foundation and how the solar towers would function how Zod claimed they would be to the public. They would be a cheap source of energy and nothing more. They would not turn the sun red; no they would be something rather harmless.

"I hope you realize that this project could make the partnership between Luthorcorp and RAO," Tess chimed in with a calculating expression in her eyes. Zod missed this expression because he was too busy marching to the beat of his own drum, basking in his moment of triumph.

"Oh believe me Miss Mercer, it will," Zod responded before he watched Harry. "There is one more minor issue that we have to hammer out."

"What is that?" Harry asked Zod and Zod smiled towards him.

"Alura In-Ze, the mother of your wife, she could be far more dangerous than you've ever realized," Zod commented as he watched Harry with a raised eyebrow. "Beware of her Harry, she's dangerous. She might seem harmless but she's dangerous."

"I'll keep that in mind," Harry stated as he did not break his stare from Zod. "And I'll see you at three o'clock on Thursday for the grand opening of the towers."

Zod gave Harry a shifty smile and eyed the wizard. "Believe me, I wouldn't miss it for the world."

Harry took this expression for what it was and that was cold and calculating, not to mention quite brutal.

Zod left which left Tess and Harry alone. The two of them walked towards the elevator. There was silence for a few moments before Tess looked over her shoulder towards Harry.

"So…."

"He wasn't lying about the drugs but I'm pretty sure one of the Kandorians was involved," Harry responded as he stepped inside. "Could be any of them, there's so many."

"He tried to finger Alura as the culprit pretty quickly," Tess offered him as she stepped inside the elevator with Harry. "I don't know, he's playing a game with us."

"It won't be a game that he's going to win," Harry commented as they went down but suddenly the elevator stopped.

"Well we're going to be stuck here for a while," Tess offered as Harry turned towards her. "The power should kick back on in about thirty minutes, I think."

Harry turned towards her, before offering her a solution. "You know, I could teleport us out of here.

"What would be the fun of that?" Tess asked with a slight smile crossing her face before she locked her eyes onto his.

The two of them knew a fair bit about each other after their meetings but there were bits about each other that neither side knew. Mysteries were something that put the veil on people artificially but yet it was something that defined both of their lives. Whether or not they liked it, that was the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, and the two of them were rather guarded.

"So are you sure?" Harry asked as Tess shifted next to him.

"Positive," Tess responded with a smile as she eyed him and what she got a good look at, she liked. He was built like a god, tall, strong, handsome, with messy dark hair and green eyes. She imagined what she could do to that body and what he could do to her.

Harry took a good long look at Tess and really did like what he saw all things considered. He saw the purple blouse that wrapped around her chest along with the jacket that slid off her shoulders now to reveal her bare arms. She shifted to allow an inch of the blouse to ride up to reveal her nice toned midsection. The skirt was conservative in many ways but in other ways, it did offer a hint, a tease of what lied underneath. Tess saw Harry watching her and knew where his eyes were focused, on her stocking clad legs.

"So is there anything that I can do for you, Mr. Potter?" Tess asked with a predatory smile on her face.

Two could play that game.

"Well, I'm sure that if you use your imagination, you could think of what we could do to pass the time," Harry responded as he placed one hand on the wall on one side of Tess's body and he was about six inches away from touching her. Close enough to give the illusion of touching to the naked eye but far enough away not to really touch. "And I'm sure I have a very vivid imagination but do you?"

Tess saw his other hand go on the other side of her and it pinned her in a box. That made her excited on some level. It changed the rules of the game somewhat.

"I'm sure I can imagine some things," Tess responded as she looked at him with hungry eyes. Her eyes met his and that proved to be the redhead businesswoman's downfall.

"Imagining some things involving us, perhaps?" Harry asked Tess and she watched him.

"Absolutely, that's what I can imagine," Tess commented with smile as she closed her eyes. "I've…."

She shut her mouth, she did not want to seem too vulnerable or needy, that was not the way that she worked. Tess Mercer ruled the game; the game did not rule her.

"You've imagined the two of us, haven't you?" Harry asked as he stepped forward, their lips almost touched but Harry did not pull the trigger.

Tess waited; it was like legalized torture for her.

"It's hard not to," Harry continued with a smile crossing his face. "It's hard not to imagine the two of us in a more intimate situation then this location is, touching, offering the type of companionship and gratification that two young, eager, individuals, the pinnacle of each of our genders could give the other."

Harry turned around and breathed in her ear, the hot breath meeting the tip of it.

"Have you imagined this, Tess?"

Tess inclined her head with a brief nod, closing her eyes.

"I know you have and I know you've imagined this."

Harry grabbed her around the waist and pulled her into a searing kiss that curled her toes. This was what she kind of hoped for when she convinced him to stay behind in the elevator, this might not be done if they simply teleported out.

Tess lost herself in the pleasures and kissed him back, their tongues battling for domination. The two of them were strong, but Harry pinned her against the wall and she felt the heat rise through her body. Between her legs, moisture began to pool and Harry used one of his fingers to caress her cheek as he continued to deepen the kiss.

She wrapped her hands tightly around Harry, her eyes widening with the pleasure, she could not believe that this was happening but yet it happened. The redhead lost herself in the searing kiss that Harry gave her and she could not wait to see what else his mouth could do to other parts of her body.

"I think that we should teleport to a more intimate venue now," Harry remarked to her as he broke the kiss and Tess wrapped her arms around him, before he scooped her into his arms.

"As long as I get what I want," Tess stated as her expression was fogged over with lust, she could hardly wait to see what Harry would give her.

"As you wish," Harry responded as he closed his eyes and two of them teleported to one of the bedrooms at Luthor manor.

"Harry," Tess breathed in an excited tone as she pulled his shirt off. She practically ripped at it and threw her arms around him. "I'm yours."

"_You always were,' _Harry thought as he tipped her down onto the bed and started to kiss her her with passion.

She reversed the position with surprising strength and straddled him, before she undid his belt.

"Well we're full of surprises tonight, aren't we?" Harry asked her as Tess unbuttoned her blouse to reveal her bra covered chest in a lacy green bra. She placed her hands on her hips and smiled.

"You should know that I am by now, Harry," Tess stated and Harry reversed the positioning, before he relieved her of her skirt.

"Let's see how much you want me."

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends.**

Tess descended to the ground as Harry fixed the bed and placed her into her.

"So how are you?" Harry asked to her and Tess gave him a shit eating grin.

"Sore, but satisfied," Tess told him as she watched him. "Our business meetings should be a lot more interesting from now on, although next time bring Kara, Karen, and Chloe along and any other women you might have hiding."

"Will do," Harry breathed as he pinned her down and gave her one final hungry kiss which she returned.

Tess thought that this was the closest that she ever would get to a god and she was not completely sure that she was not ravaged by one.

"And I'm sure you can explain to me about the powers," Harry stated as he backed off.

Tess offered a smug smile.

"And Tess, there are far easier ways in getting me in bed then having your tech girl shut off the power to the elevator at the right moment," Harry responded with a knowing smile before he teleported off.

Tess fell asleep, unable to string together a coherent thought.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter. **


	17. Chapter 17: Breather

**Chapter Seventeen "Breather". **

"The grand arising is this Thursday," Alura remarked as she leaned back in a chair in the meeting area at the Shining Light Foundation and tapped her fingers across the table. She spent some time with her daughter and son-in-law, she guessed for lack of a better term. Although it still vexed her that she had a daughter and one with Zor-El as well.

It was fortunate that Kara turned out rather well and nothing like her father. Not to mention she chose a handsome specimen of a husband. That put a smile on Alura's face. She clasped her hands together with a bright smile etched upon her face, happy to be alive and happy to get a second chance on life.

"Yes, it is," Kara agreed as Harry placed his arm around her.

Alura's impression of Harry was mixed at first. She was a bit intrigued that Harry had a collective, granted it was not all too uncommon, but it still was weird. There was a small amount of maternal instincts that caused her to realize that she might not have wanted her daughter to be a part of this but there was a larger part of her that longed to be a part of this collective. It was a really weird dynamic to be honest. The blonde thought about it long and hard and tried not to be too obvious of the looks she snuck towards her daughter's husband.

She was proud that her daughter was a high ranking member of the Collective, in fact the highest ranked member, the Alpha.

"Do you think that you'll be able to…." Alura stated before she paused and tried to figure out the right words to speak. The blonde hummed as her eyes shut and she felt Harry's hand brush against hers. This caused shivers to go down her spine but she recovered fairly quickly. "Do you think that you'll be able to stop Zod from doing what he plans on doing?"

"I know what he's going to do, I knew the moment he designed the towers," Harry informed her in a crisp tone of voice, determination dancing through his green eyes.

He knew it but he had to find a way to stop it without being detected, if he could. It was going to be a tricky process but challenges ruled most people, so Harry was going to really step forward and take this one by the horns. The Herald of Death understood that he was playing a rather careful game, not to mention a fairly dangerous one.

"The Kandorians will hopefully find a place in their new world, although they are on a strange world where they don't understand much of anything," Harry remarked as he had a far off expression and look in his eyes.

He knew the feeling, oh believe him, Harry knew the feeling. It was one of those stirrings of dread that visited him many times through his life and would visit him many times in the future. The wizard closed his eyes, threw his head back, and offered a long sigh at the situation that presented itself. He absent mindedly drummed his fingers on the table.

"You sympathize with them, don't you?" Alura asked and Kara smiled.

"Harry would because he's been in that role of an outsider looking into a world that would judge him for being a freak," Kara remarked as she wrapped her arm around her husband. "But we're going to make sure that all of the Kandorians get everything that is coming to them and then some."

"Let's hope so," Harry chimed, he did hope that everything would turn out for the better for those who deserved it, although there was still the matter of what might happen when Zod saw that his tower did not work as intended.

Giving them the powers might appease them but Harry feared opening a certain Pandora's box that he might not be able to shut once opened.

'_Harry?'_

'_Yes, M'gann, what is it?' _Harry asked her through the bond link.

'_Some of the Kandorians are here to see you,' _M'gann thought back and Harry smiled.

'_Tell them that I'll be back down in five minutes,' _Harry projected back and M'gann mentally agreed.

'_Will do,' _she thought back.

Harry smiled, he thought that he'd best take care of this, it should not take too long after all.

"Talk to both of you later," Harry responded as he gave Kara a kiss goodbye and Alura gave him a tight hug which Harry returned eagerly. The two of them lingered in the hug before Alura let go with reluctance.

Harry slipped off which left Alura and Kara alone for the time being. Kara turned to Alura slightly, a calculating expression on her face.

"So what do you think of Harry?" Kara asked Alura, trying to lead her mother on to embracing her feelings sooner rather than later. If Kara had her way, she would be added to the collection sooner rather than later.

Alura flushed a little bit but tried to remain rather bold and proud. "He's….he's rather remarkable, isn't he?"

"I've noticed that," Kara commented curtly as she could almost the sense the thoughts manifesting from Alura, it was just a matter of bringing them out and letting them completely fester.

* * *

Harry made his way down the elevator and saw several of the Kandorians waiting there. Vala was one of the ones who waited for him.

"Harry, it's good to see you again," Vala commented in an excited voice. "Faora sends her regards but….she has to help oversee the construction of the RAO Solar Towers."

"I know, we want the project to go off without a hitch," Harry answered as he leaned against the wall but Vala watched him, an appraising and dare Harry say it, almost nervous expression crossing her face. He decided to get to the bottom as of why she was acting like this. "Is there something that I can do for you?"

That question got Vala's attention but she tried to keep her expression mostly serious and not try and be distracted even though the answers that she had could get a bit seedy regarding what she wanted Harry to do for her.

"It's just that….some of us are worried about Zod and worry that he might be a bit obsessed about getting his powers back," Vala stated in a whisper as she peered over her shoulder, almost afraid that Zod was about to come around the corner to accuse them of treachery. "After Jor-El was killed, Zod has barely said two words to many of us, only giving orders to his inner circle."

Harry knew that Zod and Jor-El were friends, for lack of a better term, but it was almost like that Zod took the death hard. Or he was plotting, yes, that was it, he was plotting.

"Zod….well you all know him much better than I do," Harry remarked in a slightly evasive tone of voice.

"But surely you must have some insight on him."

Harry wished he had more insight than he did on Zod but so far there was nothing more than many questions and not enough answers. The fact that young Zod was reminding him of young Tom Riddle sent all kinds of alarm bells in the back of his head. And that would make Jor-El, Albus Dumbledore, the man who allowed General Zod to happen.

If Zod made one wrong move, Harry would have no choice but do the one thing that he knew might not endear himself to the Kandorains. Most frustratingly, so far Zod was making all of the right moves and every time it looked like he did something seedy, he had an out to explain himself.

"I've only met him less than a dozen times, not enough to form an opinion but I guess we'll all know what Zod does, when he does it," Harry offered in a diplomatic tone of voice.

"Surely you can protect us from him?"

Again that was a statement that Harry was not fond of as it put an amount of pressure on him that he was not ready to deal with. The wizard's expression twisted to a slight smile before he turned towards them.

"I'll see what I can do, but I'm not sure if it's Zod that you need protecting from," Harry said, once again his statement was kept neutral as possible. "The Kandorians might have made some extremely powerful enemies and you need to watch out for them."

Harry was not meaning to make a threat, just merely warning them.

* * *

Clark stood on the edge of the farm; it had been less than a month since his father, in the flesh, came to see him. And it was less than a month since his father, in the flesh, had been taken down in a grisly murder. The Last Son of Krypton turned his head around and looked up. For once, Lois, Lana, and Raya gave him a bit of space although the space was not too much. He had a feeling one or all of them were around.

That was just as well, he guessed. Given the amount of trouble that he got into, that might put him on his toes and always expected someone to come from behind the corner. At least that's what Clark imagined as he threw his head back into the air and offered a long sigh. He tapped his feet on the ground before he looked into the sky.

There were times where he thought that he had everything figured out but he was wrong, completely wrong. And now he had to suffer the consequences of being wrong. His mind was going a million miles a minute and showed no signs of slowly up at all.

"So, Clark."

Clark turned around and saw Alicia standing there, nervously. She shifted on her feet as she watched Clark, giving him a tentative smile.

"You seem pretty jumpy," Alicia commented as she stepped forward.

"Just thinking," Clark responded as he looked into the sky. "All of those people coming back from the grave and now….it's just hard to think about."

"I know, I'm still wrapping my head around it," Alicia admitted as she reached to the side, hoping that she was not being a bit too pushy. "I mean one minute I die and the next minute I'm in the middle of the street. It was like I didn't die, I was teleported through the time."

Clark paused, the thoughts of teleportation caused him to remember concerns he had, concerns about the Book of RAO and where it was. Alura mentioned that it could be used to create a new Krypton. The only solace that Clark had was that Zod had no idea where it was either.

That solace was only going to last a short time, that was for sure and Clark wondered if it would be the calm before the storm.

"Hello…Clark isn't it?"

That caused Alicia to jump up and even Clark turned around a bit quickly.

There he stood, bold as brass and Clark stared him back down.

"Who are you?" Clark asked, thinking that ignorance was the best policy.

Zod's face contorted into a smile, he thought that Kal-El looked quite natural with that expression of ignorance etched upon his face. Major Dru-Zod was no fool and he understood that the son of Jor-El knew precisely who he was speaking to. The young blonde woman next to him looked confused, she had not been let in on a lot.

Ignorance was something Zod could utilize.

"My name's Zod, I'm old friend of your father's….your birth father," Zod added as if he thought that it explained everything. He took a moment to look Clark over before he nodded appraisingly. "I must say, you have his eyes."

"What are you doing here?" Clark asked Zod and the army major strode forth, a smile on his face.

"Where are my manners?" Zod asked in a faux polite tone of voice as he tapped his fingers. "I've heard of your father's tragic demise, again you know the nature of how we have gotten here. I must say, I never thought that he would die in such a way but….there was a snake that we needed to exterminate and I regret to say that we did not do it soon enough."

Clark responded as he watched Zod carefully.

"The rather troubling thing is that Harry Potter could have prevented Jor-El's death, but he chose not to," Zod continued as he watched Clark for his reaction. "He has the ability to bring people back from the dead or stop them from dying but he chooses not to."

Zod remained rather calm and crisp.

"You must trust Harry enough to be in this business partnership with him," Clark said defensively but Zod just offered a sad expression, as if he thought that Clark was mentally impaired for some reason.

"I am not in it with him because I trust him, no I'm in this business relationship with him so I can protect the Kandorians from him," Zod informed him as he studied Clark. "His world was destroyed but I believe that it was by his own doing. He fancies himself as being a god."

Clark watched Zod, allowing these words to sink in. There was some kind of doubt settling in his mind but he shook his head to clear it.

"I have something for you," Zod continued as he stepped forward. He had his scouts distract those annoying watchdogs of the Son of Jor-El. That way he could step in and talk to him without being disturbed by their meddling. "I couldn't help but notice that you're feeling stifled by your minders."

"They're here to protect me," Clark remarked and Alicia remained silent, she didn't know enough about the situation to feel comfortable with getting involved. Although she got a sense that something bad was about to happen and she braced herself for it.

"I believe humans refer to your condition as Stockholm Syndrome," Zod whispered in Clark's ear. "Where you start to sympathize with your captors, with your jailers. You've been made to think that they actually have your best interests in mind. It's quite sad honestly but that's to be suspected. They're spying on you, reporting your every move back to Harry."

Clark felt conflicted; he did not know what to believe anymore.

"Anyway, your minders have been led off somewhere, a crisis has been created but I think we have full faith in their ability to handle it," Zod continued as he stepped forward before he presented the medal. "Your father….well this belonged to him, and he wished for you to have it."

"I wasn't under the impression that you and my father were on speaking terms," Clark commented in a rough voice.

"Well, I don't know you've heard, but we were close friends," Zod told him as he stepped forward and locked his eyes onto the Last Son of Krypton's. "We were closer than brothers even."

Zod leaned forward before he watched the expression on the young man's face and he put the pin on Clark's shirt.

"There, it fits you perfectly," Zod added as he turned around without another word. "I wish I could sit around and stay but I doubt that your minders would approve."

"They don't…."

"What do you mean they don't, because I've heard differently," Zod remarked as he turned back around with a smile as he kept his eyes firmly locked onto Clark before he spun around once more and walked off.

"He did something to that pin, you know," Alicia piped up as she watched Clark and tried to reach forward to remove it but Clark grabbed her hand.

"No, I'm pretty sure it's safe, he said it belonged to my father," Clark stated in an assertive voice as his eyes flashed for a moment, red.

"Alright, but you should….let Harry check that out or something," Alicia warned him as she watched him.

That did not improve Clark's mood.

"It always comes back to Harry, because he always has the answers for everything," Clark said in a hostile manner as he stared down Alicia, fire burning from his eyes.

There was something in Clark's eyes that Alicia recognized from before. She induced it before so she should recognize it.

"That's Red….that's the red rock, there's a piece of red rock in that medal," Alicia breathed but Clark looked at her with a disbelieving expression..

"Don't be absurd, I'm cured of Kryptonite, it doesn't affect me anymore," Clark told her as he spun around. "I don't even know why I'm sticking around here. If Lois, Lana, and Raya want to talk to me, they can come find me. Then I can see where their loyalties truly lie."

Clark spun around and he sped off but no sooner did he leave, then Lana showed up. The two stood face to face to each other, tension flickering through each other's expression.

"Alicia," Lana stated in a voice that was cool as ice.

She was alone, on the farm, with Clark, that was something that caused alarm bells to ring in Lana's mind.

"What are you doing here?" Lana asked her, almost demanding her to answer.

"I'm visiting Clark," Alicia stated as she kept cool and calm.

Lois dropped down and she saw the hostility spreading. Raya did as well but she noticed something as well.

"Where is Kal?" Raya asked and Alicia paused before she jumped in with an explanation.

Lana, needless to say, flipped her shit.

"You….were here and you let Zod walk up to him and pin a medal on him!"

"Hey, it's not in my job description to babysit Clark, he was the one who allowed Zod to pin a medal to him," Alicia responded in a defensive tone of voice as she glared back at Lana. The two given some past misunderstandings did not get along too well.

"Okay, okay, Alicia, Clark makes….decisions that aren't the best," Lois stated as she trailed off and stopped herself from saying that Clark made decisions that were sometimes "utterly retarded." "We'll figure this out."

"Don't worry, we'll find Clark," Lana said after she mentally counted to ten as she closed her eyes and tried to find the mental link.

All she got was a ringing in her ears and Lana dropped to the ground, clutching the side of her head.

"I'll search for him, Zod obviously is trying to subvert Kal over to his cause, take care of her," Raya stated to Lois who nodded as she nervously watched Lana twitch on the ground.

The ringing in Lana's ears did not subside for some time.

* * *

"She's out there," Harry whispered as he looked out Chloe's office window in the Shining Light Foundation as he placed his hand on Chloe's hand. The blonde took a moment, suppressing the urge to throw her hands into the heaven and scream out loud.

"I know and….you think that they're being masked by your double?" Chloe asked Harry and the wizard inclined his head with a nod before he threw his head back with a long sigh.

Clara sat in the background and wondered if she should say anything. She decided that she might as well.

"She's rather skilled isn't she? And frustratingly so."

"You know her?" Harry asked as he turned around to face Clara.

Clara bit down on her lip carefully and turned her head around before she decided to come forward with more of an explanation. The cat was already out of the bag so to speak. She decided to throw all caution to the wind.

"Alexandra Potter is her name, she's…she's the Herald of Death of our world," Clara informed them in a brisk voice. "But you already knew that."

"I figured that out a long time ago," Harry confirmed to her as he leaned forward and looked in her in the eye. "As are you."

"Yes, I am," Clara admitted as she bit down on her lip and threw her head back with a sigh. "I guess there's no hiding anything from you. Do you know how many times people go to the restroom a day?"

"Yes," Harry answered with a smirk as the young Kryptonian watched him through widened eyes as Chloe snickered. "But yes, I….given that I'm a Herald of Death, I can sense others that are like me, just like I'm sure you sensed me when you arrived here."

"Yes," Clara answered before she ignored her urgings and wondered how much she should inform Harry of. "Alex….she was the best in the world at what she did but there were times where she played by her own set of rules. She wasn't someone who you'd want against you, that's for sure."

"What did I do to her then?" Harry asked and Chloe could not resist saying something.

"You know there are times where people seem to just have it in for you because you simply exist," Chloe told him without missing a beat but Clara cut her off.

"I'm sure you didn't do anything to her, except maybe step into the way of her goals," Clara responded as she tapped her feet and swaying her head before she closed her eyes and opened them back up. "Which is interesting because you're the one and the same so you're going to have similar goals."

'_Just like playing chess against yourself,' _Kara thought to Harry through the mental link.

'_Yeah remember all the trouble you had pinning me down,' _Karen thought through the link.

'_Vividly,' _Kara thought back to her.

'_But it was worth it in the end,' _Harry projected back to both of his fellow Heralds. _'Anyway, we're getting off the subject.'_

"Oh, this is going to be a headache," Harry stated as he put hands on his head.

There was a message that appeared on his desk and someone swooped in, before going out.

"And speaking of headaches," Harry stated in a dry tone of voice as he tapped his hand on the side of the letter and opened it.

"What did Kal do now?" Clara asked in an exasperated tone of voice.

"What makes you think it's Clark?" Chloe asked Clara with a raised eyebrow.

"What makes you think it isn't Clark?" Clara fired back and Chloe's eyebrows raised before she nodded her head.

"Point well taken."

Harry opened up the nod and read it. He nodded slowly, once, twice, three times. The wizard slammed his hands down on the desk and turned around before he walked off, without a word.

Chloe raised an eyebrow before she picked up the note.

"Oh my God," Chloe breathed as she looked at the note, seeing the disastrous statement. "It appears that our favorite Kandorian decided to pin a medal on Clark."

"And Clark allowed him," Clara remarked as she threw her head back wanting to introduce her head into desk. "Why don't we just traffic him around in a short bus and be done with it?"

"Now, Clara, Clark isn't that bad," Chloe responded as she tried to find a way to defend Clark but Clara's eyebrows raised before she let in one breath and let out another breath before she was about ready to slam her head down onto the desk.

"Words fail me, as intelligence fails Kal," Clara stated drylyl as she stepped out. "That fucking idiot, I swear, he's not me."

Clara flew out the window to go and track down her double before he did something stupid.

Chloe crossed her arms and began to click her way through the satellite scans, the Shining Light Foundation upgraded. With any luck she should be able to find if anyone popped up. The blonde began to shift through the images and tried to pinpoint the tell-tale signs of magic.

'_Okay, Miss Potter, you've messed with the wrong person now,' _Chloe thought as she tried to twist the knobs and zero in to see if she could pinpoint anything, a footprint, a hair, anything that should be where it should not be.

Outside, Harry wanted to slam his head or likely Clark's against something rather hard and blunt over and over again. He sensed that Clara already moved off and searched for her brother.

"So, do you have an idea?"

"You're his keeper, you tell me," Harry said curtly as he saw Lois standing outside. "And this is….this is really one thing where we can't fault Clark on."

"Alicia mentioned to me that Zod's been feeding Clark lies and misinformation about you," Lois stated and Harry did not say a damn word. The expression on his face was chilling to say the very least. Lois could feel the Artic blast coming in from his expression and she swore she was about to receive a very strong case of hypothermia. "And…something tells me you know."

"I know that Zod's been telling me the same things about Clark, so it's nice to know that he's stirring the pot," Harry responded as he placed his hand on the wall and sighed. "I can't help but think that this is where it begins."

"What begins?" Lois asked and Harry turned around as Kara showed up to be the one to speak.

"The beginning of the end, the day where Zod takes over all and Clark betrays Harry," Kara interjected. "If I may hazard a guess, it could be because Clark betrays Harry, realizing that Zod plays him a step too late, and betrays Zod and both die."

"And there's no way to prevent this?" Lois asked after a second.

"There is, I think but we got to be careful," Kara answered as she turned around. "We don't know what the exact flashpoint is for this."

'_The towers,' _Karen thought to them.

'_The towers,' _Kara agreed and Harry turned around.

'_In the end, I know what I have to do incase Clark and Zod get out of line,' _Harry thought as he spun around. He had a contingency plan to subdue both of them should worse come to worse.

The only solace Harry had for now was that Clark did not do anything brazenly stupid and attack him.

* * *

Harry was back inside his office at the Shining Light Foundation, thinking about all of the things that he had to do. Clark had found some way to mask his signature, which meant that Zod had some help. The dark haired Herald of Death was not about to rip the world apart for some kind of wild goose chase to track down the wayward Last Son of Krypton.

He tapped his fingers on the side of the desk deep in thought.

"Busy night I take it?"

Harry turned around and saw a young woman in her early twenties standing there beside her. She had blonde hair and striking blue eyes that framed her face. She wore a white top and a black skirt that hugged her hips, along with her legs that stretched on forever. Harry caught a glimpse of her panties as she shifted, black high heeled boots that covered her feet.

"I figured I'd blend in," Lara commented as she stepped forward and moved to the other side of Harry's desk, leaning forward to show a hint of her cleavage. "So Harry, do you think that I've done a good job at blending in?"

"You've done a great job," Harry told her as he saw her and Lara smiled before she sat down on the seat next to him.

"I figured that I would," Lara remarked as she respectfully looked away at what Harry was doing. "The Fortress was able to upload my future consciousness into this body and give me Kryptonian abilities. She was sadly beyond help, brain dead from the attack, so this was the only way to salvage her, although there are bits of my younger consciousness still active in here"

"The Fortress can give the clones Kryptonian abilities?" Harry asked Lara, alarm going through his eyes.

Lara grabbed his shoulder and squeezed it in a reassuring manner.

"Well the Fortress did, before I collapsed it," Lara answered as she pointed significantly to the crystal that was tied to her neck, it glinted blue. "I figured since my son is not acting in his most sound mind, the Fortress was not needed. If he needs to know anything, I can tell him."

"So what about Jor-El?" Harry asked to Lara but the blonde smiled as she leaned forward and placed an arm around Harry.

"Merely an echo that had way too high of an opinion of himself," Lara commented in a light tone of voice. "He's still….well he's retreated back to the caves. It's not like he can do much more, given you and Kara removed his control."

"So Kal did not return to the Fortress?" Harry asked.

Immediately Lara felt some form of dread wash over her.

"What did my son do now?" she asked in a slow and deliberate tone of voice as she kept her eyes on Harry, not blinking.

"How much time to you have?" Harry asked and Lara threw her head back before she sighed.

"Is it honestly that bad?" Lara asked him as she bit down on her lip rather nervously.

"He's taken something from Zod and it's….."

"I'm pretty sure Zod didn't do anything but stir up Kal's insecurities that were already there," Lara stated as she placed her hands on the back of Harry's neck. Harry turned around offering her a raised eyebrow as she started to rub the back of his neck slowly. "You look like you're under a lot of stress, and since it's my son who is to blame for it, perhaps I should do something to relieve it."

Harry could not believe this was happening, okay, he could believe it was happening. Lara rubbed the back of his neck and pressed her breasts against his back, with a smile on her face.

"You know how many times Jor-El and I have made love?" Lara asked him as she continued to rub Harry's neck and shoulders, making sure her breasts teasingly pressed against the young wizard's back. She decided to answer that question. "Only one, if one wants to get technical, with the conception of Kal-El. And it took a lot of….aides to get that done."

Lara continued to rub Harry's neck as he closed his eyes. Just like she was skilled by hitting all of the right spots to cause pain, she was also skilled enough to stimulate all of the right spots to cause pleasure, so much pleasure in fact.

"I loved Jor-El, in the sense that he provided for me and never mistreated me," Lara breathed as she rubbed the back of his neck. "Questionable as some of his actions might be, he was noble in some ways. Unfortunately he has passed his worst, most bullheaded qualities onto his son."

Lara pressed her hands on Harry's chest.

"I'm sure those girls will find him eventually, they still haven't realized all of the quirks in their power set but I'm not about to spell it out for them if they're too dim to read between the lines," Lara stated as she threw one leg over Harry and straddled his lap. "The point is Harry, I saw what you did to Kara in the fortress."

"That was only a small taste of what we get up to," Harry informed her as he put his hands on her bare waist, feeling her flesh. The blonde reared her head back as Harry cupped her ass, and Lara squirmed against him. "I know what you want."

"Yes, I downloaded myself into this body, my younger self obviously had an attraction towards you as a strong man who could give her everything that she desired," Lara stated licking her lips as she leaned forward and pressed her nose against Harry's. "And I've noticed that you are skilled. You have a twelve inch penis and you know what to do with it."

Lara unbuttoned Harry's shirt to reveal his chiseled abs and chest and she ran her hands down his toned muscles, a smile on her face.

"And I feel like I need to have a taste of what a real man is like," Lara breathed in his ear. "I'm sure Alura will agree when she has a chance and there will be others but I want a piece of you now."

Lara slowly unbuttoned her blouse to reveal her generous breasts encased in a blue bra and she placed her hands on Harry's face, before running her hands down his hair, playing with it.

"I need you, Harry," Lara continued as she stripped off her skirt to reveal a lacy set of blue panties.

"And you shall have me," Harry told her as he tipped back Lara on the desk and began to heatedly kiss her. The blonde returned the kisses with passion.

'_Well, I knew this was going to happen,' _Kara thought to Harry through the bond link. _'Show my aunt a good time, Harry.'_

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends.**

Lara snuggled on one side of Harry and Kara snuggled on the other side of Harry, both unable to move from where they were. Both of the blondes enjoyed what they experienced.

Harry could have sworn that he heard someone run off as fast as they could in the other direction from outside the door.

'_Um Harry, Clark was here and he just bolted from the doors, nearly tearing them off the hinges,' _Chloe thought through the bond to Harry. She bit down on her lip in frustration. _'He seems pretty upset.'_

'_Ah, poor thing,' _Karen thought in a mocking coo, but she smiled before nearly singing in triumph. _'I've got the pin.'_

'_Well that was anticlimactic,' _Kara thought in a bored voice but she was so fucked that she did not care.

'_You know, I should have realized that Kal might have a minor issue with the fact that we're sleeping together,' _Lara responded in a blasé afterthought as she closed her eyes. _'But he doesn't have any right to say anything, although I'm sure he'll brood about it.'_

'_So what else is new?' _Rachel commented in a bored voice through the bond link.

'_Harry, Clark's back,' _Lois thought through Harry through the backdoor that he gave them.

'_And he looks like you just kicked his puppy,' _Lana added through the link.

'_No, just fucked his mother,' _Karen thought, although Lana and Lois did not hear this last part, only the people through the Potter family bond link heard it.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter. **


	18. Chapter 18: Absolute Justice Part One

**Chapter Eighteen: Absolute Justice Part One.**

Chloe edged outside, a bit nervously as she turned from one side of her to the other. The blonde stepped scrambled forward down a dark alleyway. Nervously, she looked around before she saw someone rustling amongst the fallen leaves on the pavement around her. Another look saw that it was a man.

Being summoned to an alleyway in the dead of night was something that should have rang an alarm bell in Chloe's head. She felt rather secure with the fact that she had some powers but still she was on edge. She craned her neck to get a better look at the man. This man had dark hair and Chloe's eyes widened before she watched him, with a calculating expression in her eyes, trying to assess if he was a threat or not.

"Miss Sullivan."

Chloe's eyes raised and she turned to the man, a calm expression on her face. "Yes, but it depends on who wants to know?"

The man continued to watch her with interest. "Hello, my name is Sylvester Pemberton. I've heard of your group of heroes and I'm interested."

Chloe's eyes widened but she decided to play dumb, at least until she knew more about what was going on. Being bonded to Harry had a certain number of occupational hazards that conflicted with the benefits and one of those occupational hazards was becoming quite paranoid. So the blonde kept her eyes on the man's face and she did not blink. Pemberton, if that was his real name, stared back at her. She crossed her arms together and watched him.

"I don't know what you could be talking about," Chloe remarked as she focused her expression on him.

Pemberton offered her a knowing smile. Secrecy was something that was part and parcel for the hero game. There was an instant where he allowed her to remain silent.

"Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Supergirl, Arcane, the Martian Manhunter, Power Girl, Zatanna….need I keep going?" Pemberton asked as if mentally going through a check list and Chloe's eyes widened. "If you wish me to go further, I can but the point is, your little super hero club had gotten a fair amount of attention to say the very least. And that attention is not the good kind of attention either. Be certain that what will come is coming and it will be extremely dangerous when it does."

Chloe was rather confused but she could have sworn that she felt a chill going down her spine. Pemberton was not done yet.

"This has happened before, and it's going to happen again," Pemberton continued in a crisp tone of voice before his eyes fixed on the blonde who blinked. The man decided to clarify what he meant. "History has an unfortunate habit of repeating itself and…."

There was a click and Pemberton grabbed Chloe.

"HEY!"

"Be quiet," he told her in a rough tone of voice before he practically plopped Chloe into the dumpster.

'_Harry,' _Chloe thought to frantically through the bond before there was a scream outside of her vantage point. Chloe saw the frost flying in every single direction outside using her X-Ray vision and the blonde cupped her hands as she turned around.

There was a loud crash followed by a shattering sound that caused Chloe to jump frantically and the blonde tapped her hands on the side of the dumpster, her heart thumping across her chest as she tried to get out but it was welded shut.

She struggled to push herself up as her head swayed from one side to the other and there was another loud crash along with a sinister round of laughter. The blonde's eyes widened as she tried to focus herself on the matter at hand but it was obvious that Pemberton put something on the dumpster to make sure that she could not get out from the inside.

Chloe sighed in relief as she finally kicked her way out of the dumpster, before she rolled out, to see the downed form of Pemberton. Her eyes widened as she watched the man on his hands and knees, his face frost bitten and his fingers numb. He twitched rather violently and Chloe's breathing heightened even more. She turned her head around and saw Harry, Kara, and Karen pop up immediately.

"Someone ran down the alleyway," Harry told her and he placed his arm around Chloe.

Clark's latest crisis would have to be shoved on the backburner because something was going on here.

"Pemberton knew about us….and said that history will repeat itself," Chloe whispered as she saw Harry put up the anti-eavesdropping charms. "Is he…?

Harry offered a long sigh as he checked the man before him. There was no heart beat which clarified that he was completely dead at the very least.

"His time has passed," Harry remarked as he heard sirens in the distance, no doubt someone heard the sounds and the screams. He put up a flare to let the paramedics pick Pemberton up in case he was wrong.

Harry, Chloe, Kara, and Karen left the moment that the flare was sent up. They did not think that tonight's events were going to get any weirder than it was but the weirdness radar elevated about two hundred or so points rather suddenly. He spun around and saw it lying on the steps of the Shining Light Foundation.

It was a package. There was a second where Harry stared at the package with his eyes narrowed, wondering about the headache that was going to come from this newest situation. He reached forward and scooped up the package in his hand, before he studied intently. The wizard's face contorted into a frown before he ripped the package open.

There was a list in the package, along with a film reel. Harry kept his eyes on the list and scanned it intently. Some of the names….well a couple of them he knew from pursuing the archives at the Daily Planet. Everything came back to him quickly. He flipped the list over, the situation getting weirder and weirder as the night grew longer.

The list had several names and Pemberton's name was checked off, along with a few others. Harry wanted to get a better look at the person who iced Pemberton. There were a lot of things that did not line up with this entire mess and Harry imagined that everything was going to get even worse. The film reel and the list were also interesting, as he wondered who sent them.

He then noticed a note.

'_Figured this might come in handy, be careful, something's breaking.'_

Harry recognized the hand writing immediately and now he wondered what kind of game she was involved in now. He had a feeling that things were going to get more insane the more time passed.

Now it was up to the Shining Light Foundation computers to try and look up what precisely he was dealing with. The wizard placed his palm on the side of the computer and realized one thing and one thing only.

Things might have just gotten interesting if they were not interesting already.

* * *

Something happened and when something like this happened, Clark didn't want to talk about it or even think about it. At all. He saw something or rather he heard something that might leave a few mental scars. If he saw what happened, he might be more scarred than he currently was. Still he heard enough and he could not believe it.

"Clark! Earth to Smallville!" Lois yelled, finally losing her patience at him sitting there, staring up in space. She smacked him on the hand with full force with a wooden spoon which caused him to spin around to face her. The head of the spoon broke off, flew up, and smacked Lana in the top of the forehead. Lana shrugged it off as Lois stared Clark in the eyes. "About time, you're lost in space, I swear that you've gone out to lunch."

Clark did not say anything which caused Lois some annoyance. Lana and Raya didn't seem too pleased about it either. They sat there with frowns on their face.

A small logical part of Clark realized that his mother was a grown woman that could make decisions for herself but he really wished that he did not bear witness to it. Given his own feelings of dread regarding Harry and the doubts in his mind where he wondered if Zod was right about everything, that did not help Clark's already quite fractured psyche. The stress of everything and the doubts he had in himself, not to mention losing his real father started to weigh on him.

He placed a hand to his father's medal and noticed that it was gone.

"Where is it?" Clark demanded as he faced them.

"Where is what?" Lana asked in confusion but she noticed something. The pin that Alicia said was on Clark's shirt was gone.

'_Slick aren't they? _Lana thought to herself as she barely suppressed a smile that was threatening to cross her face.

Clark did not notice the pin was gone until now. A frantic expression blinked through his eyes as he tried to figure out where he might have dropped it. It was something that was left behind of his father and now it was completely gone. He felt around his shirt and tried to find where it might have gone off to. Frustration continued to flicker through his eyes and there was a long pause.

"Is there a problem?" Lois asked, trying to play ignorant, she figured that if Clark could do it, she could do it just as well.

Clark's eyes spun around and flickered towards Lois's before there was a pause. "The pin…."

Kara showed up at that moment to stall the potentially problematic situation. There was an instant where the two of them locked eyes, neither really wanted to say anything. They both knew what Clark witnessed and neither was going to bring up the elephant in the room. The blonde stood to stare down her cousin.

"There has been a murder tonight, and it's just the beginning of something big," Kara remarked in a completely breathless voice as she watched Clark, trying to test him for some kind of reaction. How he reacted would be part of it.

"Is it something to do with the Kandorians?" Clark asked, trying to take a more businesslike and assertive tone, even though something about his voice shook.

Kara shook her head. "Not as such, no but seeing is believing. So you better believe that there is something that you're involved in. He knew names."

"Who is he?" Lois asked, asking the question that danced on the tip of their tongues.

"Who was he," Kara corrected before elaborated on what she meant. "Sylvester Pemberton….he showed up in an alleyway….and….well he shoved Chloe in a dumpster and the next thing she knew he was frozen solid."

"And I suppose there was no way to save him."

Clark's voice was full of accusations and quite frankly Kara was not in the mood for any of his crap tonight. Her blue eyes simmered for a second before she hung her head.

"You know the rules, Kal," Kara remarked in a crisp voice as she placed her hands on her head and took a few seconds to calm herself. "Harry thinks that….well he thinks that it's even bigger than anything we've ever had to deal with."

"Well naturally, if Harry thinks that," Clark commented in a dry voice which caused Lana and Lois to lock eyes nervously. Both of them wondered if they would have to do something if Clark was going to pull an attitude problem again.

"Perhaps you should explain to us what the situation is in greater detail," Raya remarked as she tried to steer the conversation away from potentially hostile waters. She could tell that something was close to reaching a breaking point.

"There are members of this….this old superhero team that's a lot like the League," Kara continued in a serious tone of voice. "They're….they're apparently long retired, at least most of them are. It seems like twenty years ago something happened and this guy Pemberton thinks that it's going to happen again."

Kara remembered something else, although it was the most important thing.

"Harry was sent a list, it was a checklist and Pemberton's name was crossed off, along with a couple others," Kara added and Lois decided to add her two cents, her natural investigative reporter instincts shining through.

"You know, if we can find the next person, there could be a motive."

That was something that Kara thought would be a prudent step to take as well but the real problem was where to begin. There were so many times where she thought that they were going around in circles and the blond thought that they were no closer to reaching the endpoint. It was enough to make her bang her head against the wall.

"Providing there is a motive beyond senseless revenge," Clark chimed in but Lana had a counterpoint.

"Or someone stirred up the hornet's nest that caused the person doing this to go to senseless and mindless revenge," Lana remarked in a brisk tone of voice and there Kara responded with a nod, before she closed her eyes.

A field surrounded around them and transported them to the Shining Light Foundation.

"Hello Kal," Lara commented in a light voice the moment that he showed up there, like he had not overheard her and Harry during a rather intimate moment.

It took Clark a few seconds to recover and speak to his mother, and actually look her in the eye. Neither wanted to bring up what happened.

"I see you've got your body back," Lois commented before Clark could really get a chance to say anything.

Lois, being Lois, was slowly putting two and two together and had the situation not been so serious, she would have gotten a kick out of Clark's mental scarring. However, they had more important things to focus on at the moment.

"The Justice Society of America," Harry commented as more people walked in. "A group of vigilantes who turned criminals apparently according to the Shining Light Foundation computer. They disbanded years and years ago."

"I sense a but coming."

"There's something that rings very false about some of the claims made but….the film should tell you more, I hope," Harry informed them as he closed his eyes and thought about what could come from viewing that film.

There were two schools of thoughts that Harry had. Either they were going to get some answers or there were going to be even more questions than ever before.

* * *

"So….it seems to me like they were victims of circumstance," Harry whispered as he turned to Chloe, Diana, Karen, and Kara. Clark sat in the background, not saying more than two words throughout the entire film. Lana, Raya, and Lois sat close behind as well, keeping their eyes firmly on Clark.

"They weren't….they took the fall for each other," Chloe commented as she closed her eyes. "I guess there must be honor amongst thieves."

The names flickered to them, causing even more recognition, Ted Grant, a former Heavyweight Champion of the World was one of the names that blasted Harry in the face. Alan Scott was another one, Jay Garrick, Dinah Drake, Wesley Dodds, the list went on and on.

There was one name that set off Harry's radar and he read it over and over again. Kent Nelson, Harry heard the name before. There was a file in the Department of Mysteries that he read about an artifact that went missing over a hundred years ago, it was the mystical Helmet of Nabu. The lead Unspeakable at that time was someone named Kent Nelson and if he was still alive, then he must be training, saying his prayers, and taking his vitamins, brother, because he would be fairly old. Then again, magical users were long lived, even this seemed particularly long lived even by the standards of magical users.

"It happened before, it will happen again," Diana whispered to herself before she turned to them.

"You don't suppose….someone in the government might have set them up," Chloe chimed in as she watched Harry and his eye twitched.

It was times like this where Clark in particular had a strong hunch that Harry knew far more than this situation than he was telling them out right.

'_Pawns in a scheme…..discarded….shuttled around on a check board to prove a point,' _Harry thought to Kara, Karen, Chloe, Diana, and Zatanna, all of whom who nodded.

'_This is one of those Clark doesn't need to know things, isn't it?' _Chloe asked him.

'_Eventually he will but….not until I know about the people I'm against,' _Harry remarked mentally towards them. _'They're playing a high stakes game, and the League are pawns. Just like the Justice Society were pawns and the person knocking them off is a pawn.'_

"I have an idea, they wanted these vigilantes, heroes, do-gooders, whatever you must call them, to work with the government," Harry explained to them before he added. "But they didn't want to play ball."

Harry knew when no one brought up any counterpoints meant that it was his cue to continue.

"So the government decided since they could not use these heroes as resources, they would do everything that they could to demonize them. There are a lot of puzzle pieces that we're missing but it seems like if you're not with them, you're against them."

It was that same us versus them mentality that caused so much problems with the Ministry of Magic. They considered their citizens to be resources and that was something that Harry was not going to sit back and allow with any government. It was not going to happen again, even though he wondered if it technically happened already.

The checklist rested in front of the desk for them all. The name of Sylvester Pemberton was already scratched off the list and Harry eyed the list, a raised eyebrow. There was something about that entire list that caused him some degree of trepidation to be honest. He drummed his fingers across it.

"Mister Terrific, Hourman, and the Atom are all crossed off of the list, along with….Carter Hall," Harry stated, that was already scratched off the list and the term "for sake of completeness" was scratched in hasty writing next to it. There was a little mark of a castle on the edge of the paper that Harry did not notice until there.

'_Waller,' _Harry thought to Kara, Karen, Chloe, Diana, and Zatanna as he hit upon what he was searching for.

'_Who?' _Chloe asked him in a curious tone of voice.

'_I'll explain later,' _Harry relayed back to them. _'We're really into the fire if these people are involved, which means my number might be called in soon.'_

"The next name in the list is Wesley Dodds," Harry told them all to make it not look like he was relaying some kind of telepathic conversation. "Alias the Sandman."

'_Your number….Harry….what the hell is going on?' _Chloe thought to him, she expected now that there were a few things about her husband that she had not learned yet.

'_Remember that government job I mentioned that I held in between Hogwarts and coming to Smallville?' _Harry asked them.

"Lois, Lana, Raya, Clark, could you please check that out?" Chloe asked them and there was a quartet of nods.

'_Yeah,' _Chloe mentally relayed to him, returning to the conversation.

'_One of my duties was to infiltrate the British branch of an organization known as Checkmate,' _Harry relayed to them.

"We'll do it at once," Clark stated, standing up proud, he was proud to lead the way.

'_And knowing you, you went into deep cover,' _Kara thought to him.

'_There's only one way out of Checkmate,' _Harry replied to them mentally. _'But, around the time that I disappeared for all intents and purposes for six years.'_

Harry did not say so much more, he moved around and heard the latest police reports coming in. The bad news kept rolling in.

"Wesley Dodds has been found suffering a severe case of hypothermia and he expired before he could get the proper medical attention. Dodds, known as the Sandman, was arrested in a situation involving the Justice Society of America…."

'_Lois, cancel the search party, Dodds has been found,' _Harry thought to her over the backdoor he created.

'_And by found you mean not found in the good way,' _Lois thought back to him.

'_And by found I mean he was found dead, same way as Pemberton,' _Harry relayed back to them and there was a pause before Lois relayed this message back to her group.

Harry called up the portable Shining Light Foundation interface and did a scan for meta-humans with ice powers, cross referencing them with known enemies of the Justice Society of America.

"Icicle," Harry told them all and they spun around to see what he had to say. "Mortal enemy of the Justice Society of America but he's also been in a coma since his final battle with them."

"Okay, this situation has gotten even weirder," Chloe remarked as she placed a hand on her chin but Harry clicked his tongue before he ran another search through the database.

"Maybe, maybe not," Harry commented, revenge appeared to be the order of the day or at least someone was manipulating the emotions of another to rile them up against the Justice Society.

* * *

Supergirl and Arcane dropped down to the ground as they made their way swiftly towards their destination.

'_Something was confiscated from Pemberton's car, according to the police reports,' _Harry thought to Kara and the blonde responded with a brisk nod.

'_So all we have to do is figure out what he stole and we'll be in the clear,' _Kara thought and Harry raised an eyebrow. _'Yeah not that simple, I know.'_

'_Is it ever?' _Harry asked to the blonde and saw Karen standing over to the side, arms folded. _'Karen is over there running interference so hopefully if things get a bit rough, we'll be able to get some help.'_

What were the chances of getting too rough? Actually Harry did not really want to answer that one. The door creaked open as the two of them slipped inside. They edged towards their destination as there was a humming sound that caused them to stand up straighter.

'_Someone else is here,' _Kara thought to her two fellow Heralds. _'Let's….lets be careful.'_

Harry edged forward and wondered if the assassin was about ready to beat them to it. There was many times where he thought that he was a bit too careful for his own good. However, it was for good reason, there was a chance that there would be a knife fired between his eyes if he did not watch his step. There were many instances where he thought that his back was against the wall and now he edged closer and closer to the situation.

The evidence locker was opened and Harry waved his hand, before he saw finger prints, fresh finger prints, not to mention a fresh pair of mud prints from a pair of boots.

'_Whoever was here snuck out the front door just as we came in the back, they can't be far,' _Harry thought to himself and his wives. Karen was on the outside.

'_The perp's going around the corner, carrying some kind of long staff,' _Karen projected to them. _'She looks like she's out long past curfew, sixteen or seventeen years old at the oldest.'_

'_Keep an eye on her, we'll be right there,' _Harry thought as he followed the young female along with Kara. _'Chloe, do you have a fix on her?'_

'_Yep, Harry, sending in reinforcements when I can,' _Chloe relayed to him mentally.

'_Chlo, make sure they observe only, don't engage her yet, I want to make sure that our little ice-themed assassin doesn't pop off another hero,' _Harry thought to his wife through the bond link.

'_Green Arrow is already moving in, in fact he's already there,' _Chloe projected to Harry.

'_Whatever happens, happens,' _Harry thought back but he, Kara, and then Karen circled in to try and figure out when they needed to perform some kind of damage control.

In the shadows, there was a blonde girl who stepped into the shadows. She was fairly medium sized with a slender build. The blonde hair swung in a curtain over her face, to offset her dazzling blue eyes. She wore a blue jean jacket, white t-shirt, and tight blue jeans along with brown boots. There was a certain type of nervousness dancing through her eyes.

The girl moved in, she needed to get the staff before they got their hands it. Her footsteps quickened and her heart beat against her chest, drumming a steady beat as she increased the pace. Nerves continued to fill her body and the blonde continued her movement as she picked up more speed. Moving forward with every single step, the blonde felt her heart grow fainter and her mind was a flutter as she inched towards her destination.

"Hold it right there."

Green Arrow swooped down in front of her, aiming an arrow in a threatening manner.

"Get back to the Sherwood Forest or something," the girl stated in an agitated tone of voice as she pointed the staff at him, eyes widened in a threatening stare. "Get back, I know how to use this thing. I mean it."

"Okay, kid, just chill already, you don't want to hurt yourself or anything," Green Arrow remarked as he did not take this threat seriously. "So just….put the staff down, no need to flip your wig over it or anything."

The blonde's eyes narrowed and a sneer fixed over her face before she pointed the staff towards him.

"I mean it, this is your last warning," she remarked, her eyes narrowing and the staff pointed directly at Green Arrow, primed to fire.

Green Arrow made a motion to pull the staff away from her. That was the worst thing that he could have done as the staff lit up with an intense amount of energy and blasted him backwards hard. Green Arrow flew back and landed against a set of trash cans with a huge crash.

He rolled over, as there was a moment where the girl ducked into an alleyway, her face flushed.

Karen, Harry, and Kara dropped down next to him.

'_You've got to appreciate a blonde that can handle a pretty big staff,' _Karen thought to them through the mental link, with a smile crossing her face.

"Yeah, your timing is pretty spot on," Green Arrow remarked with a pained grimace as he clutched his side and stumbled around like he was drunk. "Yeah don't worry, I'm fine, I'm good, nothing bruised, except for some vital internal organs."

He collapsed down and Harry closed the distance to stand over him.

"Couldn't you just stun her or something?" Green Arrow asked Harry who placed his hands on his hips and stared down Ollie. "You're a magical type person, you should do magical type things, but you just let her get away."

"Yes, Harry let her get away," Kara remarked, hoping that Arrow would get the hint of what exactly Harry did.

The fact of the matter was that they needed to find out who this was and now that Harry got a clear shot of her face, he was able to transmit it to Chloe.

"Hey, Chloe, run a scan on her, I'll wait," Harry commented through the link, as the other members of the League prepared to run interference in the background.

So far there was no assassin, which meant very little. Likely it meant that he was hiding and Harry very much hated playing hide and go seek. It was not a game that it was too fond of. The assassin was taking his sweet time in getting things done and Harry did not like that.

"Found something Harry….the girl's name is Courtney Whitmore….she's not one going for the perfect attendance award," Chloe remarked as she let out a low whistle before she tapped into the information even more. "She's….really nothing remarkable other than that….she doesn't have a connection to Pemberton or any of the missing or murdered."

"Who's next on their little checklist?" Green Arrow asked and there was a moment before Kara remarked crisply.

"Shayera Hol."

* * *

The doors of the headquarters of the Justice Society burst open as the blonde rushed forward, before she nearly fell down onto the ground.

"Sylvester didn't tell me anything quite like….not like that," Courtney breathed in and out heavily, her eyes nearly watering from giving these people the run around.

She skidded to a stop as a hand frantically grabbed her form the shadows and twisted her around.

"You lost them didn't you? No one followed you here?"

"Relax, no one followed me here," she remarked as she leaned against the wall, a brief smile flickering over her face as the hand relaxed from her shoulder and it allowed Courtney some space to breath. "And I got the staff…."

"The staff was the least of our problems," the voice remarked crisply from the shadows. "Sylvester is only the second one of us to get hit in the last twenty four hours."

"The Sandman has been put to sleep, he will wake up, no more, no more, he should have slept with one eye open, holding his pillow tight, exit life, exit the Sandman, off to never-never land, " a man babbled as he rocked back and forth, clutching a bag in his hands. "No, no, I must not, I must not, too dangerous, too dangerous, to know, to know. The world is not set in stone, our fate is sealed, oh yes it's been sealed."

Courtney let out a whistle as she watched the progress of a crazed man. "He's getting worse isn't he?"

"He didn't start out the best to begin with, and now he's looking at the bottom of dumpsters trying to uncover the secrets of the universe," the voice from the shadows commented. "As you might have guessed from his psychotic musings, Dodds has been taken out."

"Mr. Terrific, Mr. Terrific, not so Terrific is he?" the old man stated as he rocked back and voice, looking absolutely crazed. "Hourman, the sands ran out, time, tick tock, the end, the beginning, a new age, a new dawn, or the Armageddon? Or the Apocalypse?

There was a moment where the old man's eyes widened.

"Kent Nelson, once a sharp mind, reduced to half baked musings," the figure in the shadows commented, shifting immediately. "Then again, the Justice Society has fallen from its heights, if we could fall from less than nothing."

Courtney thought that was an unfortunate indictment of what they were up to and how they were dead.

"Not cracked, merely chipped, no, no, not busted, merely bruised," Nelson babbled as he opened the bag and a faint glow emitted from it before he closed it. "Around and around, beware the covenant, the cataclysm is here sooner then he speaks."

Nelson's eyes darted towards the empty corner.

"He sees all but he lets no one see him, he is the one who walks beside Death, he knows they're coming, he is the one," Nelson babbled once again. "He has been marked, thrice defied, marked many times denied, the other two are the same yet they aren't the same. It will be the end, there can only be one, only one."

"Yes, very good Doctor Fate," the woman stated as she stepped out of the shadows. She had long red hair that framed her face. She had piercing green eyes and she wore a white tank top and tight black leather pants. She was rather on the shorter side of things, only an inch or two from Courtney, despite being several years older. There was a pair of wings, although they were strapped underneath a bulky overcoat which concealed many of her assets.

"Shayera, what are we doing?" Courtney asked as she watched the redhead.

Shayera Hol offered a smile. "We're going to have to fight back."

"Are we going to get the old band back together, the Justice Society?" Courtney asked but Shayera shook her head.

"Those days are over, most of us are dead, including Carter, and those who aren't dead, don't want to be found," Shayera answered her in an honest tone of voice. "The good old days aren't so good anymore and….there's this new generation, we don't want to draw them into it."

The problem was that she was cursed to be reborn time and time again and that weighed on her mind now more than ever before. The next life was always like the last life, tragedy awaited around every corner. Shayera wondered what she would have to do reverse the curse. It was the same thing time and time again, new faces might change the circle.

"Only he can break the cycle," Nelson chimed in and Shayera felt weirded out a tiny bit, it was almost like he could understand what she was thinking about.

"If it's him….I think that we can take him out," Shayera remarked as Courtney looked at her. "I don't…..you know you don't have to do this."

Courtney placed her hands on her hips and stared down one of the few original members of the Justice Society that were left. "You know, I was born for this."

"It's your choice," Shayera commented in her usual crisp tone of voice and she led Courtney from the room as they made their plans.

"It is all for naught, there can only be one, it will end, the conclusion, invisible from a seeing eye," Nelson continued even though his words were only heard by three invisible figures in the corner.

Three invisible figures who made sure that no one in the Justice Society were about to do anything suicidal.

* * *

"The pawns are in position."

That was a calm statement delivered by a large black woman, as she was dressed in a business suit. The expression on her face indicated that she was not one that was to be trifled with, not to say the least. Her gaze burned a hole through the most hardened of enemies and she just getting started with today's mission.

"Four of them knocked off, with the Hawk being the next," the voice stated off to the side through the radio link.

"Don't get too far ahead of yourself, if we're discovered, it will be the end of us," Waller warned him, practically snapping at him.

"Relax, boss, I've got it, besides if I go down, you go down as well," he stated in a crazed voice. "Soon he will be avenged and the Justice Society will be no more. Fate, the Hawk, and the rest….picked off one by one, where I stop….well you know don't you, Wall?"

"That's Commander Waller to you," Waller commented in a crisp voice, although she had many titles, one of them being the White Queen of the covert government organization known as Checkmate.

"Yeah, sure got it, crystal clear," the man on the other end remarked as he waved his hands around in an erratic and crazed manner. "I broke the Hourman's glass, made Terrific feel terrible, made Pemberton see stars, and made sure the Sandman woke up never again from his eternal slumber. So what's not to be happy about?"

"You gave away everything to Harry Potter," Waller remarked in a brisk tone of voice.

"Come again?" Icicle Junior asked in confusion.

"Do you know who Harry Potter is?" Waller asked in a sharp tone of voice. "No, you don't obviously given that you allowed one of his people to see everything and now he knows. Believe me, he's not the type of person you want breathing down your neck."

"Hey, I'll get him all the same," the ice themed villain stated in a confident tone of voice.

"No you won't, no one kills Harry Potter, he has more lives than an army of cats," Waller commented in a matter of fact tone of voice.

"I'll get him when he's sleeping," Icicle Junior continued, a brisk and sadistic tone going through him.

"You don't get it, Harry Potter does not sleep, he merely waits," Waller informed the ice themed villain. "But if you wish to get up close and personal with him….that is your problem and not mine. Make sure to do the job or I'll sanction you."

"Relax, Waller, don't need to blow a gasket," Icicle Junior stated as he prepared for his next target. "Looks like some little bint picked up Pemberton's staff. She'll wish she didn't."

"Just be careful Icicle, I'm not going to bail your ass out of the fire."

"No bailing out needed, Wall, I've got this one in the bag," Icicle stated in a crisp tone of voice. "So just chill out."

Waller thought that she would be the judge of that but with the upcoming invasion Checkmate needed to acquire all of the members for an army that would be able to stave off the invasion. It was the us against them mentality that drove many great countries and Waller's eyes narrowed fiercely as she contemplated what needed to happen for them to survive.

Harry Potter was an interesting and frustrating person as she recalled him. There was a long standing rule that there was only one way and one way to leave Checkmate and that was in a box. Unfortunately, the rules of everything did not apply to Harry Potter, for he broke everyone. He was an anomaly.

Waller would not be surprised if he knew of Checkmate's plans to the letter and that they were moving against the Kandorians before they even got the plan out of the gate. He was annoying able to plot and counterplot with the best of them. Waller grimaced as she thought about the damage control she would have to do if Harry Potter caught one hint of Checkmate's plans.

There were many problems and if she had to hazard a guess, going against Potter at this point would be suicide. For every contingency Waller had, she was certain he had a counter measure.

He learned at the foot of a grand chess master, even if he did not appreciate the lessons until years later. That was another person that Waller was not able to completely figure out.

"Stand by, we may have a problem," Waller commented off to the side in a low whisper.

"It is to be expected," a distorted voice stated through the communication link. "Stand by."

* * *

Determination filled the eyes of one Courtney Whitmore, or at least as determined as someone would be as they were condemned to being live bait. She sighed as she turned her head around.

'_Any moment they'll pop out,' _Courtney thought herself as she clutched her staff, trying not to be all that nervous. The blonde closed her eyes and waited.

The frosty sensation could be felt around her and she saw the young man, encased in ice as he stepped forward and stared her down.

Courtney stood there dressed in the most absurd outfit ever, looking like an overgrown American flag, with the mask and everything. In hindsight, it was not the most fashionable thing in the world to wear but she wasn't about to be fashionable as she was acting as bait.

"Hey, come out and face me!" Courtney yelled as she clutched the staff firmly in her hands and stared him down.

Icicle Junior's face snapped into a snarl. "Do not play games little girl, you might get a bit frost-bitten."

"Yeah, I bet you say that before you get your smug little ass kicked every time," Courtney commented but he stepped back and a frigid wind flew around her, causing her to shiver.

Her teeth started to chatter and suddenly, a blur shot in and grabbed Icicle Junior before he slammed him against the wall.

"You picked the wrong person to deal with, buddy," Icicle Junior stated as he closed his eyes. "Why don't you chill out?"

Icicle Junior caused an Artic wind to blast Clark full force and white out conditions were created to block anyone from getting their hands on him. It was hard for anyone to see, even with X-Ray Vision.

"Potter is here, get out of here while you still can and don't go to base, whatever you do," Waller whispered through the link frantically.

There was a large crash as the ice was broken and Clark staggered around daze.

"What did you just do?" Courtney demanded as she spun around and faced Clark.

"I thought I was saving you…."

WHACK!

Shayera swooped down and nailed Clark in the face with her mace knocking him flat on his ass. Invulnerable Kryptonian or not, a shot to the face with an Nth Metal Mace was going to hurt every single time.

Clark rolled over and clutched his face that was going to leave a mark. Shayera spun around and saw three heroes she recognized as Supergirl, Power Girl, and Arcane standing before her.

"Okay, we got off on the wrong foot," Supergirl stated as she performed a warming spell on Courtney who shivered but nodded.

"We had them right where we wanted him, it was a plan," Courtney commented as her eyes flashed and she held the staff, her hands wrapped tightly around it as she stared Harry down.

"Are you sure you can handle that thing?" Harry asked her with a raised eyebrow.

She was flustered for a second as she caught sight of his green eyes but refused to back down. She was not going to be distracted.

"Yes, I can handle it," Courtney stated as she aimed the staff at them. "Ask your friend the archer how well I can handle this staff!"

"So you can handle a big staff, that's good to know," Harry commented with a smile but Shayera stepped in front of Courtney and stared Harry down.

Both sets of eyes locked to each other and it was difficult to see who's showed more determination.

"You've got two minutes to explain," Shayera said, her temper bubbling over to the side and her green eyes flashed with malice.

"He is the one."

Kent Nelson wandered out, seemingly dazed and confused.

"Do not judge what is been done, no he is the one, they are the three, it is coming, the ones, and the power will swim through them. Fate knew of their coming."

"Doctor Fate I presume," Harry commented lightly.

He shook his head frantically almost whimpering like a scared kitten.

"No, not Fate, Nelson, Kent Nelson, although once I had a connection to Fate, but I won't let him back out of the bag," Nelson stated as his eyes widened and his expression darted around in an erratic manner.

"We might have a problem," Harry relayed to them as he saw them and Clark was on the ground.

"A problem is the least of what we have," Wonder Woman stated as she turned towards them. "J'onn left to follow up a lead eight hours ago. He was supposed to report back five hours ago."

The stakes got much higher.

**To Be Continued in Part Two. **


	19. Chapter 19: Absolute Justice Part Two

**Chapter Nineteen: Absolute Justice Part Two**

Learning that one of the team members had gone missing, well that wasn't something that Harry considered to be ideal.. Harry spun around, after the rocky start that he got off to with J'onn, they got along fairly well. Now he had disappeared and the team was going into full crisis mode.

Except for Harry, he was so used to crisis that it might as well have been his middle name. It was time to cool his jets, calm his nerves, do what he did best, and he was the best there was at what he did. Plot out a plan that could get them out of this situation. There were times where he needed to just focus on the situation at hand and just get the job done. That's who he was and that's kind of what he did. The wizard was someone who never caved, no matter what, even when the pressure kicked up about twelve notches.

Courtney's eyes turned to them and she took in a deep breath before speaking. "It's happening….with you guys isn't it?"

"Yes and no," Harry stated in a calm voice, as he lead them into the sub-basement area of the Shining Light Foundation, so they could teleport up to the Watchtower. That was the only way in for security reasons. Of course given that the security of the Shining Light Foundation had been breached before, perhaps that might not be the best idea in the world but it was the best option they had available to them.

"Be a bit clearer, because some of us aren't following what you're saying," Shayera told him, agitation present in her tone.

Harry remained cool as he responded in a crisp tone of voice. "Well here's the deal, the problem is that these people are extremely dangerous. There are people within the government who have their own agenda and I've crossed paths with them more than once."

Clark's interest piqued up. Was it actually possible that Harry was going to tell him information that he had been sitting on and not sharing with everyone? There was a second's pause as Harry left them in suspense.

Not for more than a second as Harry's eyes turned towards them and a smile crossed his face before he let them in on the secret. He was going to spell it out as clearly as he could for them all.

"They are a covert government organization, they call themselves Checkmate, they have equivalents all of the world, and now they've taken interest in us or more particularly you," Harry told Clark and Clark eyed him. "I wouldn't be surprised if they knew who you are, where you came from, and everything about you. Some of the people do want to protect the world but others…."

"Are psychopaths?" Lois suggested cheerfully as she popped up.

"Yes, they are….the most psychotic of psychopaths," Harry remarked as he pondered the next drastic step he had to take.

Courtney stood up straighter to face Harry.

"So Icicle…."

"He's angry that his father was a murdering bastard that blew himself up," Shayera stated as she turned around. "Put him in a catatonic state, he's pretty much a vegetable. He took Carter with him or maybe Carter took him down with his last breath, I couldn't tell from my vantage point."

Shayera slumped her shoulders, it was the same song and dance every time she reincarnated, her life began, she met Carter in some form, one or both of them died. Sometimes she died first, sometimes he died first, for the sake of variety. The other died later, after watching many of their friends die around them, the cycle continued, lather, rinse, and repeat until the end of time.

It frustrated her to no end and the red head woman hoped that this life would be the last one. She was not a religious woman by any means but there had to be some higher power who had it out for her, who refused to break the cycle. Especially given that she was becoming more and more frustrated as time passed.

"We have a lead, we have to have one," Shayera stated, about ready to slam down her mace hard on someone and she wished it could be Junior's fat head.

Chloe was the one who answered as she tapped into the Shining Light Foundation computer system and tried to scan for their wayward foe. "Yeah….yeah I'm working on it, believe me, I'm working on it."

"Work faster, we're not getting any younger," Shayera stated to her, although her temper was rather short.

Courtney placed her hands on her hips, she could tell that the older woman was losing her patience.

"Shayera, cool it…it's fine," Courtney remarked as she took a look at what was essentially a crew of misfits that surrounded her.

The next generation of super heroes, well she hoped that it would go a lot better than the last generation of super heroes did. That one did not end well; the blonde blew her hair out of her face and sighed before Harry stepped over.

"Do you know if there's anyone out there that you can contact and warn?" Harry asked Courtney who shrugged her shoulders.

"We've been trying to track down other members of the team but they've….they're missing in action."

"Missing, no one misses them, they have not been misplaced," Nelson stated as he stepped out of the shadows. Harry nearly forgot that he was there.

"Kent, what has that helmet done to you?" Harry asked, that's why he had a long rooted distrust of magical artifacts. They always messed up someone in the worst way. There were horror stories that he could write volumes of books about.

Kent Nelson's eyes flickered around wildly as Lois made a cuckoo motion with her hand but it went unnoticed by anyone but Harry. Nelson rocked back on his heels his heart beating faster, faster, faster, there was no question about it, he was teetering on the edge of insanity and he spun his head around.

"Yes…no….yes…it has done much to me," Nelson commented in the most lucid statement. "The world….the powers….there are certain things that are not meant to be tampered with by mortal man but you know that better than anyone, don't you Harry Potter?"

"Yes, I do," Harry agreed and he did wonder about his own responsibilities.

'_That guy's completely bonkers,' _Karen chimed in through the mental link.

'_I'd have to concur….he's a bit off,' _Diana thought as she sighed. _'No luck in locating J'onn but….'_

'_Diana, don't do anything too reckless, whatever you do,' Kara thought to her through the bond link. 'I know I don't have room to talk but please don't do anything too reckless.' _

'_I'm….I'm going to find him, Zatanna and Arrow are searching with me, hopefully we won't blunder into a trap,' _Diana thought although there was trepidation going through her thoughts and Harry chimed in through the bond link.

'_That's what I'm afraid of,' _Harry commented in a grim tone of voice.

The clock was ticking down and things were going more serious than they ever before.

"I need to speak to Doctor Fate," Harry spun around and Nelson's eyes widened before he mouthed the word "no" over and over again. Harry sighed. "I know what the helmet does for you but there are circumstances…."

"If you know what the helmet does, then why have him put it on?" Clark asked as Kara eyed him with a warning glare.

"Because there isn't another way, we might need the powers of the Helmet of Nabu to end this situation," Harry remarked as he placed his hands on the back in significance.

'_Couldn't you put it on?' _Lois thought to Harry through the backdoor that he left in.

'_I like my brain the way it is,' _Harry remarked in a crisp tone of voice and there was no further argument after that statement.

"We need him, Nelson," Shayera stated as she pushed the bag further into her line of sight. "He might be able to help us."

"If you're sure….but if it goes on once again it might not be coming off," Nelson stated as he snapped back into sanity for only a moment.

"Okay….Kara, Clark, Harry, Courtney, you follow the good doctor," Chloe told them as she decided to take charge of what was apparently a frustratingly dangerous situation. "As for Shayera and Karen…you two and Lara could keep watch."

Chloe thought that Lara would appreciate getting into things although after what Clark witnessed, it might not be wise to put Lara on the same mission team with Harry and Clark. Things might get a tad bit more awkward.

Clark looked ready….but he turned his head.

"Wait….what about me or Raya or Lana?" Lois asked, figuring that they would be paired with Clark.

Chloe was quick to respond to her. "I figure that you will be able to help with the patrol on the other end of the city, keep an eye for anything strange and you can report back. I'm sure Clark won't do anything stupid with Harry and Kara there. And if not, Courtney can blast him with that giant staff."

"Yeah, because she handles it pretty well," Kara commented and Courtney looked agitated but calmed down. "I mean, normally a teenage girl would be intimidated by a giant staff but…."

Harry offered her a warning gaze and Kara's mouth snapped shut.

Kent Nelson hummed and hawed before he slipped the helmet onto his head. His pupils dilated and Doctor Fate lived once again.

* * *

J'onn's eyes flickered open as he stared back at Waller who looked back at him like the cat who just caught the canary. It was hard to deny that this woman was pretty good at what she did.

"There's something about your type, isn't it, Martian?" Waller asked as leaned forward to peer at her prisoner. "You have certain fears, just like the rest of us. There are certain things that you're terrified of, much like the rest of us. And there are certain things that make you piss yourself like a little girl, much like the rest of us."

Waller wrapped her fingers across the edge of the door and flames shot up around the Martian Manhunter.

"I don't understand…."

"Oh, but you should understand, but let me spell it out to you, one letter at a time," Waller stated as she turned around. "Humanity is at a crossroads and there needs to be countermeasures to help us survive against these threats. We've found out that there are aliens living among us. Don't think that we haven't been watching and reading the signs."

Waller's stare was unblinking and her eyes never left J'onn's face.

"One or two of you showing up, I might chalk it up as a coincidence but when a few dozen of you show up, there's a problem," Waller answered as she made sure not to touch the flames. She also did not get too close to the Martian in case her sources were wrong about it negating his powers.

"You're an extremely bold woman when you're on the other side of a cage of fire," J'onn retorted as he glared back at her. "How about you…."

Waller cleared her throat and a smile crossed her face as she focused on the Martian Manhunter on the other side of the cage.

"You're very bold when taking on people without powers, I'm just here to level the playing field," Waller told him before she kept her eyes on him. "I'm not the villain in this situation; don't make any mistake about it."

"Am I making a mistake?" J'onn inquired to her and there was a long pause before there was a loud crash from outside the room that got Waller's attention.

"We're here to save the world and you can help us, if you join us," Waller stated but there was a second where her nerves were on edge. There was someone outside and it was most certainly not the welcome wagon.

Waller turned around and made her way down the steps. The Martian Manhunter was about to figure out a way to get out of there. The flickers of fire on the floor caused his nerves to escalate.

The doors on the other side of the area were smashed open, and Shayera made her way through them in the aftermath, before she slowly surveyed the room, her eyes flashing dangerously. She saw the Martian trapped in the fire cage.

"There you are," Shayera told him and J'onn nodded. "How did you get captured?"

"It's a long story," J'onn remarked briskly before he tried to push his way out of the cage but the fire flickered around him, causing him a great deal of discomfort.

"Hang on for a second."

Shayera hammered the apparatus with her mace releasing J'onn from the cage. The two of the moved through the door while Waller was distracted but knew they would not be in the clear for long. The two of them edged their way through the stairway area as they escaped.

"You know this isn't their main base of operations, don't you?" J'onn asked him and Shayera nodded before she smashed open the door with another violent swing of her mace.

It was not subtle, but it did the trick. It allowed them to keep escaping and rushing forward into the scene. There was an instant where they stood on their heels and Clark waited at the edge of the hallway. His head turned around before he addressed the group as they continued to go forward.

"The coast is clear."

"Great, let's make sure it doesn't end that way, we're almost there…."

Shayera's instincts kicked in as she dodged suddenly and J'onn grabbed Clark around the head before pushing him down towards the ground. There was a huge crack of ice shattering as icicles fired towards her.

Icicle Junior arrived and he was not pleased, not pleased at the slightest. His eyes flashed as he stepped towards them. He saw Shayera and smiled wildly towards her.

"Finally, not the hawk's wings I wanted to clip, but you'll do nicely."

The crazy villain aimed his attacks towards Shayera but she dodged the attack and the ice shattered against the wall. Moving quickly she maneuvered through the next barrage attempting to close the distance to him and smashed through the follow up attack with her mace.

As she was trying to figure out the best way to close the rest of the distance so she could smack him in the face and shut him up once and for all. He froze her legs to the ground and she struggled to break herself free.

"Guess I've got you there," Icicle Junior remarked as she tried to push her way out of the ice. "Shall I break you slowly, surely, clip your wings little hawk girl?"

"Take your time," Shayera grunted as he was more than an arm's length away and she was trying to get to him to come in close enough she could crack open his foul face with her mace. If she could free herself, they would have a chance.

"This is not your Fate!"

Doctor Fate showed up and blocked Icicle Junior's attack with an energy shield. Several icicles smacked against the shield as he held it up before he spun around and knocked him back with a magical attack.

Fate waved his hand and caused the ice to shatter around her. There was a few brief seconds before she turned her head around.

"Thanks….I'm glad that you…."

Icicle Junior nailed Doctor Fate hard in the back. While the helmet held the power, his body was still as brittle as any old man was. His eyes rolled into the back of his head as he collapsed to the ground. The helmet flew off the head of Nelson and clattered onto the ground.

"Inza, I'm coming home," Nelson managed as his blood spilled from his mouth.

"You bastard!" Shayera yelled as she aimed her mace towards him but a shield of ice appeared in front of her. A loud crack resounded as her mace smashed against the shield.

Kara and Karen popped back up as he ran off with the helmet.

"He took the helmet, didn't he?" Kara asked and there was nothing more than they had to say other than that.

Clark rolled over, rubbing the side of his head and he turned around, there was no two ways about it, there was a lot that all could have gone a little bit better. His wrist was tender from where he landed on it but he healed in no time.

They had to get the helmet before any trouble was gotten into with it.

* * *

Waller thought that entire operation could have gone better, but in other unexpected ways, it went to picture perfect precision. She was not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, especially when said horse bared so much fruit. Things were getting dangerous but she kept a rather calm demeanor. She was not called the Wall just for her girth, there was also nothing that could shatter her.

"Agent Mercer," Waller remarked as she turned to the redhead woman that stood before her. "You remember the terms of our agreement."

Tess nodded, she remembered the agreement, an agreement that was made a long time ago and she thought that it was a good idea at the time. Yet sometimes agreements become less so as time passed. So this little deal with Checkmate became less ideal as more time passed. The red head focused her attention on Waller, as she tried to keep her expression neutral.

If Waller ever had a hint that she undermined her in the any way, well Tess was going to be in for it. She was in rather deep, but she would find a way to regain control.

"Yes, I remember it well," Tess remarked in a calm voice, not allowing her expression to betray her even though there was a moment of indecision in her voice. The young woman stood rigid as she heard a tapping sound behind her.

"So, Checkmate reunion, am I invited?"

Waller spun around and she saw him standing before her, bold as brass, green eyes blazing in fury. Harry Potter stared her down. These two stubborn forces locked eyes and there was a moment where it was hard to tell which one showed more determination. Tess shuddered; an intense vibe passed through the room was nearly too much for her to stomach.

The redhead wondered if something was about to give because surely this wasn't going to be resolved peacefully.

"You have a big pair of balls coming here," Waller stated as she reached underneath her jacket but she pulled out a bouquet of flowers instead of the gun she intended.

"Trying to shoot me Wall?" Harry asked her as his eyes darted around the room hyperactively, a bright smile on his face. "I thought you'd have a bit more style than that."

Harry turned to Tess before he whispered in her ear, amusement crossing his face at the dismay on Waller's.

"Gotten to."

"What do you want?" Waller asked, as she sent the signal, Potter was here and this might be the best chance that she had to get him for slipping away all of those years ago. She was not about to let this one get away. He was right in the palm of her hand.

"Oh nothing much, world peace, an island where people won't bother me, and the heads of everyone on Checkmate on a plate," Harry remarked cheerfully before a smile crossed his face. "Wall, did you really think that it would be that easy? Did you think I would forgive the trying to kill me thing that easily?"

"You turned your back on Checkmate, you should know its standard procedure," Waller told him but Harry's eyes traveled over her, with a smile crossing his face.

"Yes and no," Harry remarked as he kept his eyes fixed on her in the shadows. "Here's what really happened, I'm not sure how much of it you remember. But I was like a fox in your henhouse, I disrupted your order. And now, I'm still disrupting your order. You are like a wolf disguised amongst the sheep and I shall lead you to the slaughter."

Waller's eyes flashed before she said one statement that Harry heard dozens of times before.

"You're crazy."

Harry shrugged his shoulders. "Maybe, most of us have been driven that way over a period of time."

Waller kept her eyes on Harry before a calculating expression spread across her face.

"You got in here but you won't get being out of here," Waller told him although her confidence faltered in the face of the bold expression on Harry's.

Especially since he gave her an expression that said "really, fool" and tried to apparate out of the facility.

A loud squealing noise echoed in his ears and he dropped down to his knees for a second. He kept his eyes on Waller before he nodded.

"Well played, well played, you know….I didn't think you'd actually figure out that you'd need to find a way to prevent magic from being performed in any building that I was in," Harry answered before he spun around to face Waller. "You know, I'll give you that, it's clever, extremely clever."

He rubbed his ear before the wizard turned around and faced her. There were several Checkmate agents with guns pointed on him, ready to fire once Waller gave the word.

"Bullets, well you think they hurt, but after what I've been through, getting shot up doesn't seem so bad," Harry commented before he turned around and faced them. "Especially where we're heading in the world but you know, it was a hell of a ride for you all."

"Harry, it's done, we'll end this the easy way or the hard way," Waller told him and the wizard's expression turned towards her, a smile crossing his face. "You know the rules, there is only one way to leave Checkmate."

"In a box, but I don't look good in boxes, so I prefer leaving this way," Harry stated as suddenly a flash bang erupted and blinded the guards. They tried to fire their guns but they jammed.

Harry grabbed Tess, catching her from surprise, as he pulled her towards the exit.

'_Play along, I need a hostage,' _Harry projected to her through the mental link.

'_Wait, how in the hell can I hear you in my mind?' _Tess asked to him, completely rattled by this turn of events.

Then again she was rattled by the act that Harry was putting on to apparently throw Waller completely off.

At least Tess hoped it was an act, because it was high likely that after every responsibility he undertook, he could have went completely bonkers.

'_Long story, but the short version, every woman I sleep with, I have the potential to leave a mental impression on and I just turned yours on, struggle a bit more, yes, that's it,' _Harry stated as Tess tried to get away but Harry grabbed her around the throat. She elbowed him to maintain the charade.

'_Don't worry, I'll try not to damage anything I might want to use later,' _she projected to him, barely suppressing a grin.

'_Good girl,' _Harry praised her as he saw them coming on all sides.

Tess wondered that if Harry cracked under the pressure of all of the responsibilities that he took on lately.

'_Just a quick question, are you trying to get us both killed?' _Tess asked him.

'_Not blatantly, no, but accidents can happen,' _Harry said as the lights went out in the building.

'_And now we can't see,' _Tess thought as she stopped struggling against Harry and tried to listen carefully. _'They're stumbling and bumbling in the dark.'_

'_They can't see either, that's good, I might be able to pull this off without getting anyone killed, the truth was that I wanted Waller to notice me, because that keeps her eyes off of her little flunky, and makes him do something reckless to play into our hands,' _Harry told her mentally.

There was yells to get Harry, but that was nothing new to him. The wizard kept pushing forward, trying to escape the area but heard several crashes and a loud bang.

'_We're almost to the secret exit point,' _Harry thought as he edged forward. _'Waller acts like this is the first time I've been handicapped with no magic.'_

'_So you rigged the lights to go out then?' _Tess asked him as she pressed herself tightly against Harry.

'_Sure, that's a better explanation than anything else,' _Harry thought but he had no idea who dropped the lights.

All he knew was that he was past the power dampening fields.

'_You got away but so did I,' _Harry projected back to her and Tess nodded before Harry vanished with a no so subtle pop.

He had what he wanted to, ears on the inside of Checkmate. Waller thought that she could one up him but just as they thought they had all the answers, Harry Potter changed all of the questions.

* * *

Vengeance danced in the mind of Icicle Junior as he held the helmet. There was the whispers of many voices around it, the mystical helmet of Nabu, Doctor Fate's helmet. He killed Doctor Fate, therefore that helmet should by all rights be his by divine right.

"You really don't want to put that helmet on."

Clark popped up in front of Icicle Junior. Shayera showed up, followed by Karen, Kara, and then Diana. Courtney stepped in as well, then Oliver stepped into the scene as well.

"So is this supposed to be some kind of New Justice Society or something?" Icicle Junior asked as he turned around to face them.

"The Justice Society was great in their time, but I think it's time to move onto the next age of heroes."

Harry stopped in front of him and the wind blew through his hair.

"The famous Harry Potter," Icicle Junior remarked dryly and Harry smiled back at him.

"I hear that a lot."

"It's time for you to meet your match."

Harry rolled his eyes before he stated in an exasperated tone of voice. "I hear that a lot as well. I wonder if you villains have the same script writers."

He turned to the group before he continued.

"Or they can't be bothered to think of anything new to say," Harry remarked to them before Icicle Junior held the helmet up and shoved it on his head.

There was a loud bang as he laughed out loud, the power maliciously spiraling around his head and his eyes snapped back, rolling into the back of his head.

Clark tried to rush in to attack him but he was blasted backwards. The Kryptonian spiraled backwards as Icicle Junior felt a flow of power erupt within him.

Harry aimed a blast of magic towards him to hyper enhance his senses. Between that and the helmet, that might be enough to fry Icicle Junior's brain but he put up a shield to block the attack.

"Chaos, meets order, meets opportunity," a deep voice echoed before there was an instant as he edged forward. "Your fate has been sealed!"

'_I wonder if you've got a bingo off of this guy yet,' _Kara thought as she dodged the bolt off of energy.

'_A bingo?' _Chloe wondered from afar.

'_Really bad super villain cliché bingo,' _Kara confirmed as she shot a blast of heat vision from her eyes but he blocked it with a shield.

'_Ah, I see,' _Chloe thought through the mental link before they rolled out of the way.

Courtney stepped forward and a full blast from the staff rocketed forward. The energy impacted Icicle but he pushed back with all of the might that he could muster. His eyes rolled into the back of his head and there was a thunderous round of laughter.

"You don't think…."

Shayera waffled him in the face with the mace which caused him to fly backwards. The momentum of her strike caused her to spin a full circle, her green eyes flashing for a few seconds. She looked down at her enemy, disgust flashing through her eyes before she said a few words. "You talk too much."

The helmet of fate was still present even though the wearer was distracted.

"Arrow, diversion!" Harry yelled as Green Arrow aimed an arrow in the direction that Harry pointed. The arrow shot through the air and impacted the ground.

The flare caused Icicle Junior to be blinded and Karen and Kara shot into the air at different angles. One sent heat vision high and the other sent heat vision low. This combined attack knocked their enemy off balance and caused him to stagger.

"No, I can't….I must…I must…"

Clark rushed in at Harry's motion but this time he dodged the attack and Courtney came in from the other side, blasting him with the staff in the chest.

"That helmet and you need a separation," Harry remarked as Icicle Junior screamed at the top of his lungs, the thumping of the helmet finally getting to him.

A scream was heard as Harry rushed in and tried to separate him from the helmet, slamming an energy scythe into his chest. It was not enough to kill him or send him to his eternal reward but it was enough to cause him unbearable pain. The connection between Junior and the Helmet of Nabu shattered.

Kara swooped in and plucked the helmet off of the top of his head, before she bolted forward. Junior tried to freeze her but Karen, Kara, and Harry blocked his attack with a shield.

Suddenly he dropped to the ground, his last ditch effort having turned up to be nothing. Despite all of the times that he killed the Justice Society members he was done.

Kara calmly walked over as he kneeled on the ground and blew at him, causing her own ice breath to immobilize him.

Icicle Junior was put on ice and had been stopped cold. Now they were going to send him off to the cooler where he would chill.

"It's over," Harry told them all and he held the Helmet in his hands, as it kept humming.

"You would be worthy," the Helmet told him.

"Trust me, we'd drive each other even more insane," Harry told the Helmet, he wasn't about to put any magical head gear on his head. "I will find another who is worthy for that helmet, although whoever wears it next might be halfway down the road of insanity."

"Agreed," the Helmet stated before it went silent.

* * *

Clark sighed, swallowing his pride was one of the things that he never thought he'd have to do but at the same time, it was something that he did far too often. He spun around with his eyes locked onto Harry's who just put the Helmet of Nabu away.

"Your plan worked," Clark told him and Harry smiled.

"Yeah, don't act so shocked, but it could have blown up in our faces just as easily," Harry informed him.

"Well that's the thing with any plan isn't it, we don't know what happens until we go out there and do it?"

Shayera stood there, arms folded. She was still a bit worn from the battle but she would live.

"You could have let us all suffer out there, to stumble around blindly but you saved us," Shayera told him and Harry inclined his head. "You must know what it is like to lose people around you."

"I do have empathy for that, but Junior was only one person," Harry remarked as he closed his eyes and brushed his hair away from his face. "And that one person whilst dangerous, is only a drop in the hat from what Waller and Checkmate could unleash on us."

Harry did wonder what would happen next but there was one thing that he needed to know is that given all of the players on the chess board now, they needed to stand together. Even though they would make some strange bed fellows in their attempt to get everything done but that was the nature of the game.

Clark did wonder what was going to happen next as well, but he did respect that Harry did hold many cards close to his chest for a reason. At least that's what he suspected although he wondered if there were any other secrets that he was dangling within his fingertips.

"The Solar Towers are being brought up tomorrow night," Clark remarked to Harry and Harry spun around, his shoulders shrugged.

"Worry about what you need to do and I'll worry about what I need to do, you've done well tonight, or at least far better than what you've been doing," Harry commented as he spun around.

There were a few ticks of the clock that passed.

"So what are we anyway, a new Justice Society or not?" Courtney asked and Harry turned towards her but it was Kara who answered.

"The Justice Society was great in its own time, but we're creating a new time, a new age of heroes and hopefully we'll be able to do what's best to protect as many people that we can. The world does need heroes, although most scarcely can understand why"

'_Even if that world barely understands us,' _Harry projected through the mental link and there was a sigh that Kara gave.

'_Even if the world barely understands us, yes,' _Kara retorted but there was really not that much more to say, except their little League of Heroes was expanding.

Which naturally should make certain people very upset for obvious reasons but Harry knew that those people would be upset whatever they did, so more power to them but the wizard's eyes flickered for an instant as he thought about where he would go next.

The Kandorians were high priority as he was almost sure that was who Waller talked about when she mentioned that Checkmate was preparing to protect the world. Pushing them could get ugly.

"You've done a lot," Lara commented as she turned to face Harry but Clark already slipped off into the night, his work done.

"Why does it feel like there's a lot that I have to do?" Harry asked her and Lara smiled at him.

"Because there is," Lara stated as she wrapped her arms around Harry and exchanged a passionate kiss with him. He returned it, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

There was a lot to do but Harry was ready for anything, he had outmaneuvered Checkmate again.

* * *

Waller could not believe that Harry Potter outmaneuvered Checkmate once again and made a fool out of her. Actually she could believe that he did it but she did not want to believe that he did it. She walked back to one of her offices but she stopped. The light was already on which meant there was someone there.

Waller entered the office and stepped forward. The woman turned her head from one side to the other and searched for anyone who entered the office. She found no one which caused her mind to run wild with frustration.

Once the office seemed secured, Waller parked herself down onto the chair and turned her head around for a little bit. The woman's neck arched a slight amount and there was a sensation that she found herself suddenly immobilized on the spot.

"Good evening, Amanda."

She was trapped in the chair and came face to face with Lily Potter. Lily was dressed in a skin tight leather cat suit and she turned, facing Waller with a wide smile.

"Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, Amanda, boy have you been busy, haven't you?"

"What's the meaning of this?" Waller demanded as she tried to pull herself free but she found her wrists trapped in position. There was no question about it, she was up a creek without a paddle and she could only stare Lily in her blazing green eyes.

"You're going after a certain group of heroes, aren't you?" Lily asked Waller as she placed her hands on the desk. "That's not agreed upon."

"I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about," Waller stated to Lily but the redhead woman's face contorted into a smile.

"This was not part of my game, now tell me, where's the Book of RAO?" Lily demanded as she eyed Waller.

"I don't have the Book of RAO," Waller protested and Lily peered into the woman's eyes for a few seconds before she nodded.

"I believe you, but I don't have the Book of RAO, the Traveler doesn't, Harry doesn't, and you don't, so we're running out of options of who does have their hands on that particular artifact," Lily stated as she watched Waller. "I'm sure you'd like it, to exile them from this planet, wouldn't you?"

Lily's face contorted into a smile.

"You know what, Waller, there's really no reason for you to continue this futile battle against this League, because you're going to lose, so I've spared you the embarrassment and deleted every single bit of information you've acquired on them from your computers," Lily continued with amusement flickering through her eyes. "No need to thank me, I'm just doing my duty."

"You won't get away with this," Waller stated but her arms were weighed down and fastened to the chair.

"I've heard that more than enough times, Mandy," Lily remarked as she placed a set of hands on the wall and leaned back against it. A knowing smile crossed her face. "So tell me, have you ever forgotten something, something big? Something that you swore you'd never forget but it just suddenly slipped you mind, poof, gone."

"What are you…."

"Answer the question, Waller, it isn't that hard," Lily stated, any mirth having left her voice. "You see, when you endanger my son, we have a problem."

Lily paused before she continued.

"And when you endanger my plans, we also have a problem."

There was another pause before the redhead woman continued.

"And when you do both in the same night, we have a huge problem."

Lily slapped her palm down on the desk for emphasis and gave Waller the most dangerous gaze she could muster.

"So did you ever forget something in the way that I described. Something vital, something important. Think hard now."

"No, I haven't," Waller replied as she faced Lily. She prided herself on having good recall.

"Well, I don't think that I should deprive you of an opportunity," Lily said as she lifted up her wand and pointed it at Waller's temple. "Obliviate."

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter. **


	20. Chapter 20: Matter of Trust

**Chapter Twenty "Matter of Trust."**

It was a calm and peaceful night outside of the Shining Light Foundation. Several of the Kandorians hovered around, Harry was talking to Vala. Kara and Karen were out with Alura and Lara on a girl's outing where they'd be gone for the next few days, with Lana and Raya tagging along. Lois drew the short straw, so she was on Clark duty.

Harry did not envy her in the slightest for being stuck with babysitting Clark, but at the moment he was walking outside with Vala. They made a loop around the outside of the Shining Light Foundation, as they made their way to the streets in front of it.

"Settling in for a new life is never an easy thing but the Kandorians are adapting, some better than others," Vala told Harry as she walked beside him before she turned around, almost in a paranoid fashion, as if there was someone watching her. When she determined that there was no one there, she faced him properly. "There's a schism of sorts within the ranks."

Harry raised an eyebrow and acted like this was news to him. "How so?"

Vala was only too happy to let him in on the fact. "Zod….well there's no easy way to put this, he's distrustful of you."

Harry knew this already but played along.

"Well, that's his opinion, isn't it?" Harry asked her, even his voice neutral.

"Do you know what happened to the tower?" Vala asked him. Harry had wondered when this question was going to be brought up. "We thought that it would help people and now it's gone."

"I did too, someone sabotaged it," Harry turned around, although there was a list of suspects who sabotaged the RAO tower, Harry could not very well throw out accusations until he had proof.

The wizard turned around for a second and heard the background sounds of crickets chirping and cars driving around him, it was a nice and peaceful night, something that many people might take for granted. The wizard walked her forward as they reached a nice shop that had a very homelike feeling to it.

"I hope that we find out who did it, some of us are considering it to be a declaration of war," Vala commented to him and Harry nodded as he reached forward to put a hand on hers.

"Someone wasn't thinking very clearly," Harry remarked, but again, he knew that Zod would flip if he found out the alterations he made to the tower before it was destroyed.

The towers toppled, with fire and brimstone, and the markings indicated that someone disassembled them magically. Which narrowed down his list of subjects to around three people and Harry took some time to tick them off in his mind.

The first was the illusive Rosalina Sinclair, someone who had slipped through the cracks after the initial sighting. Harry had almost forgotten her but he would never completely forget about the things that she did. She vanished off of the face of the planet but given that the Kandorians did attack her thinking she was Lily, this may have been an act of revenge.

That brought him to suspect number two, that being Lily herself. Lily was always a wild card in many situations and Harry wondered what his mother's intentions truly were. She was able to keep about three or four steps ahead of him.

Suspect number three was his double, another person who was slipping through his fingers with greasy precision.

Harry wondered what it was about his family members that caused them to be more slippery than an eel dipped in grease.

"The Kandorians are conducting their own investigations," Vala told him as she stared into his eyes. "I know you must be disheartened as well, given all the time and effort you made into improving the tower."

"Not to mention the money," Harry remarked as he spun around and saw her to the front door.

"Yes, there is that," Vala commented in a light tone of voice before she leaned forward and gave Harry a light kiss on the cheek. She looked at him with an adoring expression "Good night, Harry, see you later."

"Good night, Vala," Harry remarked as he turned around and decided to take his own trip down to the tower.

It had been closed for investigations and there was a fourth suspect that might have been involved in the tower explosion that Harry had not thought of. Checkmate, he would not be surprised if they had a magic user on their payroll. His woman on the inside hadn't been able to find anything that was damning against them.

Then again, Checkmate had their fingers in many pies. Harry knew that Waller knew a lot about what was going on but not everything. He hoped that Tess would be able to find out more for him and most importantly not get caught doing so. He did disable her tracking implements but that meant little in the grand scheme of things.

Vala entered her shop, thinking about the new life that she set up for herself. Several of the Kandorians were really struggling to get a grasp on the fact that they did not have the powers that were supposed to be granted to them under a yellow sun. In some ways, she understood their point of view but she thought that if she was able to live without them on Krypton, then she could just as easily live without them on Earth. Having powers didn't matter to her at all.

In the meantime, she would enjoy her life but no sooner did these thoughts manifest, then she felt a sense of unease run through her. Shivering slightly she peered around. It felt like there was someone else in the shop with her. This caused the hair on the back of her neck to stand up on end and the woman shivered again as she edged towards the source of the sound.

"Hello, who's there?" Vala asked but there was no response.

She moved forward towards the shadows and tried to get a good look at who was in the shop with her.

"You thought that you could get away with what you did to me."

A hand thrust itself forwards wrapping around Vala's mouth tightly before she could even scream. A syringe found its way into her shoulder causing her to collapse to the ground.

"The perfect little specimen," the man in the shadows whispered as he ran his hands through her hair before gripping it tightly and dragging her off.

She could be preserved and the proof that they all needed to prove that he was not a crackpot would be relieved to the world. There were aliens among us and they were taking over.

He would save the world.

* * *

"My sister is missing."

At these words Harry turned around to see the person who spoke them. He was mildly annoyed about being pulled away from his work at the Shining Light Foundation.

Faora stood right behind him, a frantic expression on her face, although there was a sense that she was trying to keep it together. Granted, she was not trying too hard but still the fact that she was trying was commendable.

"She was just with me, last night," Harry offered her and Faora's eyes flickered in irritation as she closed the distance between them with another step.

"She has coffee with me every morning, it's like clockwork, Vala's never late, never," Faora told him as panic flickered through her eyes. The woman who normally had nerves of steel was panicking.

Harry thought that there might be a problem. Twenty four hours had passed since he last saw her going into her shop. The wizard tried to remain calm, even though there was a sense that something was very wrong in the back of his mind.

"I'll see what I can do to track her, but it's going to take time," Harry remarked as he cued up the Shining Light Foundation computer.

"Wait, you can track us?" Faora asked, taking aback.

"Not now," Harry hissed through his teeth, evading the subject with a tact of a politician and having a glare in his eyes that Batman would find intimidating.

"I'm beginning to think that Zod's right about you…."

"I said not now!" Harry stated in a more forceful tone of voice as he tried to access the tracking component on the computer.

The fact of the matter was that more often then not Harry had to take certain steps that might be considered morally dubious to level the rather uneven playing field that he was on. To her credit, Faora remained quiet but there was a look of mistrust that flitted through her eyes.

"After everything that's happened, I wonder if you're cracking," Faora remarked but Harry chose not to say anything in response. "The Tower went down, your mother has slipped through the cracks, and you lost the Book of RAO."

"You mean, the Kandorians don't have it then," Harry commented in an oh so casual tone.

"No we don't!" Faora snapped as her body grew rigid. "Zod says that it could be used to destroy us."

"Zod says a lot of things," Harry commented, he was worried that he lost one of the Kandorians. "Did any of the other Kandorians go missing?"

"No, my sister is the first," Faora remarked.

The theory that was formulating in Harry's mind was not a happy one. He tapped through the tracking module on the Shining Light Foundation computers, bringing up more and more data as he shifted through it.

"Can you find her or not?" Faora asked him.

"Tracking spells are imprecise, there's something throwing it off," Harry commented but he heard a buzzing in his head.

'_Harry, I ran into a situation,' _Lois thought to him suddenly through the backdoor that he set up in her mind.

Harry kept his voice calm and even, despite the fact he was on the verge of coming mentally undone. _'What kind of situation, Lois?'_

'_There's this nutjob of a doctor, he's trying to get me expose that there are aliens out there,' _Lois thought to him. She could not resist giving a shudder. _'He's got this charming Saw quality to him to…'_

'_Run, Lois, for the love of RAO run,' _Harry told her over the link.

'_His name is Bernard Chisholm,' _Lois thought to him but there was a panicked yell before the link went dead.

Harry pulled out as Faora grabbed him from the shoulder for a second and slightly shook him.

"You look like you were on another plane," Faora stated, in confusion and dare he say it, a bit of sympathy.

"I was, one of my friends might have gotten kidnapped by the same screwball who took your sister," Harry remarked as he rose up to his feet. And if Lois got in trouble, Clark was about to get in trouble, which meant Harry had to bail both of them out.

This night was shaping up to be made of all kinds of suck.

"Does the name Bernard Chisholm ring any bells?" Harry asked Faora and Harry detected a slight note of recognition in her eyes.

There was a few second where Faora tried to gauge how much to tell Harry.

"Chisholm saw us borrowing bodies from the morgue," Faora remarked, figuring that since Harry knew, there was no reason in hiding what the Kandorians were trying to do. "We only used dead bodies for our experiments, we're not monsters."

Harry just grunted and offered for her to continue.

"He saw us," Faora continued and once again the wizard inclined his head with a slight nod, giving her the needed invitation to continue. "And he suffered a heart failure from the shock. There was no way by human means to revive him."

"But the Kandorians found a way," Harry remarked in a chilling tone of voice, not liking where this was going at all. The wizard allowed a prominent sigh to escape his mouth.

Harry hated to put someone in danger but he knew that Lois had been captured and given that there was a stronger trace on her, he would be able to track her down. Chisholm was not the brightest person in the world and in fact he left a very distinct trail for Harry to follow.

"You will get Vala back, won't you?" Faora asked him and there was a pause as Harry stood there with his jaw set firmly before he offered her the response that she had been seeking.

"Yes, I'll get her back."

Harry now had a place to start. He wondered if any innocent humans had been caught in the crossfire in Chisholm's pursuit of them. The wizard knew that the chase was on.

He might not like what he found out but the chase was on. A smile crossed his face as he prepared himself for what he needed to do next.

* * *

The young Herald of Death dropped down from the edge of the building that Lois had been taken to. There was a really creepy vibe that caused him to shiver a little bit. The young wizard took a few seconds to get his head on straight and focus on the situation at hand. There was a time to be paranoid and a time for action and now was the time for action.

Harry peered through the open windows and kept an eye on Clark through the windows. He arrived there, likely to follow Lois. Clark might have gotten a scream of terror through the link that had been established.

Which meant that he went in there without a plan or bothering to wait for backup.

There was someone out here with him. Harry stood rigid, his arm turning around a slight bit as he coughed lightly. The Herald of Death knew that if he was caught out here, that could compromise his role of getting everyone out of here alive.

"It's going to be very tricky to get in here, isn't it?"

That voice was very familiar to his ears, almost like it was someone who he knew all of his life. Harry spun around and tried to attack the person in the shadows.

She blocked his hand, holding it in place. He tried to go for a kick but she blocked it. He tried to blast her with a stunning spell but she blocked it.

"We can do this all night, I know every move that you can do," the girl stated as her hood was draped over her face to obscure it from Harry's line of sight.

"Then maybe I should try for something unexpected," Harry remarked to her as he bowed his head.

He flipped over the top of the girl's head and grabbed her hood before pulling it down. He saw some red hair and piercing green eyes. She looked like a miniature version of Lily Potter, except for a few differences.

"Very good Harry, you can be taught," she remarked as she stepped back and slowly clapped for him. "My name is Alexandra Potter, I'm you….well with a few differences."

Harry's face contorted into a strained smile as he surveyed his doppleganger. "Yes, I can tell."

Alexandra inclined her head and watched Harry. The two of them kept their eyes locked on each other and neither was about to flinch for that would give up ground to the other.

"I've been trying to crack this facility but I've run into a snag," Alex remarked to Harry.

"Given all of the snags you've caused me, it's just as well," Harry informed her but she shrugged her shoulders.

"Be that as it may, I'm not the villain in this situation, that nutcase in there is," Alex stated as she peered towards the window. "He keeps Kandorians preserved to try and prove his crackpot theory. Or what he thinks are Kandorians."

"Normal humans," Harry breathed.

Alex turned towards him looking over her shoulder. "Quite. He's taken the crazy train to the land of confusion."

"Wonderful," Harry retorted towards her and the red haired green eyed witch swayed her hips from one side to the other before she locked eyes onto Harry's.

"I believe that's our way in."

Harry wondered if he was going to believe her but there were times where he had to trust someone even though he might live to regret doing so. This was a matter of trust and his trust was waning.

"I'll create a diversion, you rescue the captives," Alex whispered and once again, Harry wondered if he could trust her.

Of course, asking if he could trust her would be asking if he could trust himself.

Did Harry trust himself?

Well that was an interesting question to hash out and the answer might have turned out to be a rather prominent "no". The wizard twisted his head around and took a long and deep breath.

He edged inside and sure enough a diversion was caused.

Harry saw Vala on the tube, Lois handcuffed to the bench, and Clark on the floor, at the mercy of the modified Kryptonite the Kandorians created.

Chisholm meanwhile was looking like every B-Movie villain ever, his eyes flickering off from one side to another as his grin got wide and creepy as he surveyed the situation at hand.

"Just think how many live ones we have," he stated as he grabbed Clark around the scruff of the neck.

Harry saw another party guest, Zod, sulking around the corner. Everything was going to come crashing down and the chaos was just beginning.

A flash bang echoed in the air and blinded Chisholm. This allowed Lois to free herself from the handcuffs, and display that she did have powers, in time to punt the man into the wall as hard as she could.

Harry edged over and saw the tanks. Vala was about frozen like an icicle but he managed to unscrew the valve to release her from her containment. The wizard wait until he could safely break her free the rest of the way without plunging her body into shock.

She was panting and barely there. Harry slowly defrosted her. It was a controlled process with magic, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, her feet her dragging beneath him. The Kryptonian blinked, she had been through an ordeal.

"Here, there's someone who can help you, get back to the Shining Light Foundation," Harry remarked as he pressed the Portkey into her hand and Vala, without another word, mostly because she was in too much shock to say one, flashed away.

Clark got to his feet but so did Chisholm who was more durable than he appeared on the surface. Not to mention he had a gun. He fired it towards Clark.

Before Harry or Clark could react, Zod jumped out of the shadows and took the bullet for Clark. It was a moment that surprised all, as he sacrificed his own health for Clark. The bullet pierced Zod's chest and caused a nasty wound.

The Kandorian fell to the ground, the blood pouring out of his chest and Harry stepped forward before he started to scan Zod. Clark struggled to stand up and looked from Zod to Harry and was about to open his mouth but Harry shook his head.

"Clark leave him, he's gone, all gone," Harry told him and Chisholm was about ready to attack once again.

Several of his surgical tools impaled him in the chest and pinned him against the wall. A blur shot out of nowhere and an energy scythe cracked him across the chest.

His time was long done.

Harry edged over to the back of his lab, he needed to make sure there was no other prisoners that he needed to free. He combed over the lab with a fine tooth comb to try and find that there was no stone left unturned.

Whilst Harry was gone, Clark kneeled beside Zod. There was only a slight amount of light flickering through his eyes. He could barely hold his head up, blood spilled from his mouth, pouring from him. There was an instant where he tried to lift his head up but he collapsed back down to the ground.

"Zod, hang on, we'll….get some help," Clark offered him in a calm tone of voice even though there was a certain amout of shakiness appearing through this tone.

"I guess….Jor-El was wrong," Zod managed as his stomach was wounded from that human blowing a hole through him.

It was quite an irony, all of the battles he had and of all things, it was a human that put the final nail in his coffin. His fingers became even number as he tried to lift his head up but he collapsed back down.

Breath was hard to exert for his body. Zod's eyes closed and his breath became extremely ragged. He tried to turn his head back around.

Clark watched, a frantic burst of inspiration flowed through his body. He would not dare try it but he had been running out of options.

He grabbed one of the pieces of Kryptonite. It burned in his hand but pain was not something that he worry about. He screwed his eyes shut and felt it burning into his hand.

"Clark wait!"

Clark ignored that yell and stabbed the Kryptonite into his forearm.

The blood splashed onto the gaping hole in Zod's stomach. There was a long pause, before a flash of light erupted around them all. Everything changed for Zod as he felt his skin healing, his genetic structure changing.

Zod's eyes flashed for a second before he sank into a deep sleep. He was still breathing.

Harry's eyes widened. He wondered about the consequences of what Clark just did.

* * *

"So you saved his life," Harry remarked to Clark, his voice was cool and crisp as he offered this inquiry.

"Yes, I saved his life," Clark offered him, wondering what he did wrong now.

Actually in his mind, he did not do anything wrong. He did everything right involving Zod. Sure the man was capable of some bad things and did some bad things on Krypton but there was an instant where he saw a look of something in his eyes.

Vulnerability was something that flickered through Zod's eyes. That was something that Clark never thought that he would experience coming from the almighty Major Zod, the future General Zod. He was calling out for help, for someone to save him.

His help.

"So you saved his life?" Harry asked him once again.

"I believe we already established that," Clark remarked to Harry and there was a moment where Harry looked at him. The look was long, cold, and unsettling. It stirred up some unfortunate questions within Clark's mind. He said nothing at least not at first. Then the glare continued to burn a hole through Clark and it caused him to go on the defensive. "What did I do wrong now?"

There was a long pause before Harry looked up into the sky and his sigh could resound for miles.

"Well, I did tell you that Zod was all gone, didn't I?"

"Yes, but you saw what happened, I saved him," Clark offered him and Harry turned around and watched the sky.

There was a moment where Clark felt a chill in the air. It was not something that he enjoyed feeling at all.

"He was black, he was going to die, there was no saving him about it," Harry remarked as he looked into the sky.

He wondered what Clark did now and the floodgates were opened for some nasty storms. The wizard debated on whether to let him in on the next bit of news that he learned from the Lifeline reading. That was something that was far worse than the first bit of news.

"Zod was black," Harry remarked coldly and crisply. "And now….and now he's gold."

There was a second where Harry looked up and wondered if Clark fully grasped what he did.

"Do you remember Doomsday, who went gold, and the hell you went through against him?" Harry asked Clark. "Do you remember what happened, how you nearly died?"

There was really no nearly about it, Clark was for all intents and purposes dead. He was somehow brought back to life due to a technicality but he was never the same again. After the battle with Doomsday he hovered in limbo. It was more complicated than that but that was the general idea of the matter.

"So you're trying to say I blundered again," Clark said as he threw his hands up in a defensive manner.

Harry truthfully was not in the mood to deal with Clark and his issues right now. Not after the last few weeks that he had been having. He bit his tongue and mentally counted to twenty before he spun around. The icy green eyed glare of Harry Potter could cut through the hearts of many men and Clark as someone who was experiencing what it was like to be on the business end of that one straight away.

"I'm not saying anything like that," Harry whispered to him in a deadly and quite crisp tone of voice. There was a certain iciness to what Harry was saying that unsettled Clark.

He kept himself rather calm, or calmer than he should be. It would have been far less unsettling if Harry had shouted until Clark's ears bled. His expression flickered between very much annoyed to cheerfully indifferent. Then they locked onto Clark with a cold blazing fury.

"Maybe Zod will come to appreciate the fact that he was on the edge of death and not become the monster that he was," Harry offered.

Clark cut him off. "I thought that you were…."

"Let me finish, please," Harry stated in a tense tone of voice. "Maybe Zod will come to terms with what happened and that will allow him to be a far better person than that monster who became part of the end of Krypton."

Harry wondered but he was not going to pass judgment on anything until it happened. There was just a part of him where he wondered if Clark opened the Pandora's box to end all Pandora's boxes by giving Zod his powers.

Could the end begin with this seemingly selfless act?"

Harry stepped forward with a calm expression on his face and did not say another word to Clark about the matter. He took it as his cue to leave. Harry did not bother to call him back because there needed to be some kind of damage control exercised with everything that happened. The wizard spun his head around.

There was a box that was on his office desk in the Shining Light Foundation. It reminded him that his double slipped off into the night yet again. Exactly what she was up to, well that was something that Harry still had yet to figure out.

He reached forward without another thought and touched the box. The box blinked to light above him and it rose with a holographic image of his sister, with her red hair and green eyes.

"I'm sure you're wondering what the meaning of me leaving you this package is," Alex told him with a moment's pause. Harry perked his ears up to listen. "There are some dangerous people out there; Checkmate is only the tip of the iceberg. The Kandorians are divided, which could end up working into your favor or could end up blowing up in your face. I don't know what's going to happen myself but it should be fun to figure out, shouldn't it?"

Harry did not say anything, although there was a certain amount of frustration flickering through his eyes. He kept his face calm.

"I have something that you have been searching for, now that the heat must be off of you, it will be safe for you to possess it," Alex concluded with a smile on her face.

The hologram faded and Harry took the box in his hand. There was something about this box that made him wonder if he was holding a ticking time bomb. The same question echoed in his mind and he held the box, before he opened it up.

He pulled it out, it was silver. He knew what it was immediately.

Harry now had to put every single bit of security in the building on it for if it ever fell into the wrong hands, it would mean the end for them all.

'_I have it,' _Harry projected to Kara and Karen through the bond link and there was no need to explain what "it" was.

The fact that the blood of Clark was used to revive Zod actually worked out more to Harry's favor than he let on to the Kryptonian. The fact of the matter is, the fact that Clark's blood now empowered Zod meant that other elements were at play that made things a bit more manageable.

Harry smiled at this thought, everything went according to plan, at least for the most part. Although there were still a lot of things that went wrong, so perhaps he was being very much premature about everything but still he tried to remain optimistic.

* * *

Zod's face flickered as he rested and favored his stomach area. The Kandorian heard footsteps and his eyes perked up before he watched the approaching figure.

"You wanted to see me."

Clark came face to face with Zod.

"They aren't around, are they?" Zod asked Clark and Clark nodded in response after taking a second to make sure that no one showed up. "Good, it's me and you, man to man, without any of your minders sticking their noses in. This is none of their business."

Clark did not say anything; his expression remained stoic and unblinking. There was nothing for him to say now.

"So I have you to thank for my miraculous recovery," Zod commented in a light tone of voice to Clark, raising an eyebrow towards him. The Last Son of Krypton's eyes widened and he nodded. "So how did you know?"

"Know what?" Clark asked Zod in a careful tone of voice, trying not to betray what he was thinking.

"How did you know that your blood was going to heal me?" Zod asked him as Clark turned his head towards him before he offered a clear answer.

"I didn't."

Zod nodded, that was a fair statement, honest, something that a huge part of him respected. He kept his gaze pointed towards Clark. The wind blew around them as the two of the stood face to face. Time ticked by on the clock before Zod spoke up with his answer.

"So it was a gamble," Zod concluded as he inclined his head. "Although one that paid off."

Clark shifted his gaze towards Zod. "How are you feeling?"

Zod admitted this next part. "A bit sore, not all of us are men made of steel after all."

He rubbed his side for emphasis and Clark, nodded in response.

"What are the Kandorians up to?" Clark asked before he could help himself and Zod raised an eyebrow. He looked to be considering what Clark was saying before he responded.

"We are trying to figure out how to best live a life amongst the humans but it has been difficult, has it not?"

There was an expression that never faltered from Zod's gaze and he extended his hand forward to tap Clark carefully on the shoulder.

"I do wonder what the intentions of a certain mutual contact of us is," Zod commented in a light tone of voice, trying to sway Clark's mind towards a certain direction. "Harry Potter."

"He said that you were going to die," Clark offered, choosing his next few words.

"Yes, he says a lot of things and many of our brothers and sisters are beginning to blindly follow him," Zod remarked as he eyed Clark. "He is the type of person who would have a tower built and then have it destroyed to cause the Kandorians to be divided. Divide and conquer, he would have been amongst the greatest chessmasters in the world."

"Harry would never…"

Zod placed up a hand and prevented Clark from speaking further.

"Do not think of what we might or might have not done, given how circumstances pushed us. There are a lot of times where you think you might have been pushed in a certain direction. It is not set in stone what we might do if we feel desperate times call for it.

Zod's expression drilled into Clark's face.

"You better get back, your watchdogs will not approve of our meeting," Zod remarked to Clark. "Even if they will never truthfully know the perils of what we must go through. You and are I cut from the same cloth, Kal-El, don't forget that."

Clark wondered if he should feel insulted at that but nodded.

"So I suspect that we will meet again," Clark offered and Zod's head nodded stiffly.

"You will be right if we meet again," Zod answered crisply as he spun around to look over the edge of the building into Metropolis below.

It was so beautiful yet it was so fragile. Clark left and Zod stood on the ledge of the building, looking down at the people below.

The sights, the sounds, the smells, all amplified a thousand fold, thanks to the gift that Kal-El gave him. There was a few seconds where a heart beat drummed in the back of Zod's head and he placed his feet on the ledge, looking out into the city below.

'_He's given me so much, pity I'll have to take everything,' _Zod thought to himself as he stepped off of the ledge, the moment of truth at hand.

Zod remained airborne, shooting through the skies of Metropolis. He tested the new gifts that had been given him through the blood of the son of Jor-El. It moved him like a cork, faster than a speeding bullet. He was more powerful that any force on Earth and he was powerful enough to take him down, to crush any within his feet.

Soon he would give the Kandorians their birthright, once their desperation had heightened and they depended upon him above all else. After Harry Potter failed to keep his promise to help the Kandorians, Zod would be a savior like he always destined to be. A brand new age of Krypton would begin beneath his feet. The towers were only a small set back to a grander cause and he propelled himself forward through the sky, testing out his new powers.

They would serve him rather well.

* * *

Planning was the strong suit of Lily Evans, even if she knew that the best laid plans of mice and men often tended to go awry. This was no less true for a witch, even if she micro-managed several things to the detail. Ever since she was a little girl, there were certain things that intrigued her, even if in her quest for power, there were things that were extremely difficult for her to come up with.

The witch blinked as she moved through the headquarters of Checkmate, well one of their many bases. The Castle was a location that Lily had not been able to completely breech as of yet. There was someone who locked her out and she wanted to know who that was.

There was something else that bothered Lily as she shifted through the government base. Checkmate was outsourcing their work to someone; there was this mysterious assassin who had been tasked with taking care of the Harry Potter problem once and for all. She tried to find out more regarding who had been hired to do the deed.

Waller was a woman that was a difficult one to maneuver against. Certainly Lily wiped her memory but she was tenacious enough to bounce back from that. If Waller had not been Lily's enemy, she might have admired her just a tiny bit more than she did to begin with.

Respect your enemy and you would never underestimate them. Lily Evans did respect her enemies, all of them, even though they tended not to respect her.

A creaking could be heard and Lily grew rigid.

Someone else was sneaking around in these parts on this night. That was extremely interesting, as Lily wondered who could be sneaking around in this area. She edged herself towards her target, there was a momentary thump against the side of the wall.

Lily came face to face with one Tess Mercer. Both of them stood before each other. There was that moment in time where neither said a word to the other. Their eyes were locked onto each other, burning through each other. Both females looked at each other intensely.

Neither spoke one word, even though there was the indication that they should.

"What are you doing here?" Tess asked but Lily grabbed her arm before she could step forward.

"I'm sure Waller's little stooge would want to make sure everyone knows that I'm here," Lily remarked in a crisp and cool tone of voice. "And I'm sure that….I'm sure that you're itching to get some revenge after the last time we met."

Tess remembered that, her eyes flashed with a fury that could not be matched. Lily stared back at her, eyes locked together and their minds were racing. Both of them did not say a word to the other despite the fact that there was a chance that they should.

"Or maybe you're not as loyal to the cause as you claim to be," Lily whispered to Tess in her ear, which caused the other redhead to take a step back.

"What's your stake in this?" Tess wondered, not backing down from Lily.

Lily replied with a smug smirk, one that did not leave her lips. She countered her expression. "What's yours?"

It was a game that they could go back and forth on all night long but there was more than one person who joined the party.

"I don't think either of us should be seen here," Lily whispered to her.

"What are you after?" Tess asked as she grabbed Lily preventing her from attacking.

Lily could have hexed this woman for getting in her face. Thankfully her temper managed to keep in check.

"Answers," Lily offered in a crisp voice.

"Could you be a bit more specific?" Tess fired back and Lily's eyes locked onto her.

"Not to you," Lily stated but there was a pause before they were on the business ends of weapons and a group of armed individuals stepped forward.

"Do you really think that you could get away with this easily?"

Lily assumed that they were speaking to her, because they were looking at her. She opened her mouth but they shook their heads.

"Checkmate is all about loyalty and you did not exert the proper amount of loyalty for our cause, Miss Mercer," one of the guards stated in a stiff tone of voice as he stared down Tess. He stepped forward and gazed directly into her eyes. "Come along quietly and we may make this easy on you."

Tess could hardly believe that, making things easier on her, as if. She stepped forward but she was grabbed by the hands and forced off against the side of the wall.

'_How do I work this damn thing?' _Tess thought to herself as she tried to break through the bond link. _'Harry, Harry, are you there?' _

Tess knew that there was one way out of Checkmate and that was in a box. Her limbs twitched and shook as Tess was pushed into the wall. She struggled against the tight grip but the Checkmate agents also grabbed Lily.

"Wait I didn't…." Lily started and they were quick, they had the bracelet strapped on her wrist.

"We developed those for Potter, but you'll do just nicely," the goon stated with a twisted grin spreading through his face.

Lily tried to flick her wand at him but the bracelet prevented her from utilizing magic.

"So, you're going to kill me, well that's nice," Lily remarked, practically baiting them into doing something that they might regret later.

The Checkmate goon's face twisted into a smile as they chained Lily and Tess together, with a miniature explosion device in between the two of them.

"Seriously?" Lily asked as she looked at the entire set up.

"I hate to agree, but I do," Tess stated as she wondered why this link to Harry wasn't working at all.

"Sometimes the best methods are those that are tried and tested," the Checkmate goon stated as he watched Lily Evans and Tess Mercer handcuffed together, set for the explosive charge to go off in less than an hour.

Neither woman was happy about the situation.

"You can even run, if you try to tamper with the cuffs, it will below you to smithereens."

Lily did not want to tempt that nor did Tess. The fact of the matter was since the bracelet prevented Lily from performing magic, they were pretty much tamper proof.

Yes, they could not have been a worst situation if they tried.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter "Act of Faith."**


	21. Chapter 21: Act of Faith

**Chapter Twenty One: Act of Faith.**

Lily's agitation was brought to a fever pitch. All of her well laid plans were thrown out of whack by one simple situation. The redhead witch tried to pull herself free of this situation but found herself stuck. No matter what, there was no really clear cut way to slice it and from her theories, these handcuffs blocked all powers. The red lamps in the hallway, well it was obvious what they did. She was handcuffed to Tess Mercer and the handcuffs were set to explode in less than an hour. Lily didn't know exactly when but she did hear the ticks going slowly within the timer.

She managed to ensure that she received all of the powers of a Kryptonian within the orb thanks to her modifications before putting her DNA inside. Granted, she did not expect Jor-El to nuke the orb with Blue Kryptonite, so she actually had to give him some credit. The only powers that she managed to retain were passive ones like super hearing. Otherwise she would sooner rip Tess's arm off and get out of the handcuffs that way.

Lily's eyes flickered shut.

'_What to do, what to do?' she thought in frustration, which continued to escalate to an entirely new degree. The witch kept her mind focused on getting out of this situation and heard the ticks escalate on the count down as the clock wound down one tiny second at a time. _

"You know I was here and fine until you showed up and got me handcuffed to you," Tess remarked as the two of them walked through the Checkmate facility trying to find the exit.

Tess saw the red lamps and knew, she knew that Waller prepared this facility. Someone had been doing her homework or at least clued her in.

One wanted to go one way, the other wanted to go the other way and it was just one hundred percent mess of both females trying to go in opposite directions. This lead to a tug of war between two of them and both tried to push themselves to escape.

"We should try to work together so we can get out of this intact," Tess offered but Lily looked at her through an agitated glare.

"We need to get out of here, before they decided that the little handcuff trick isn't going to rattle us, and that it's easier to shoot us in the back of the head," Lily remarked flatly as she lead Tess up the steps. The two of them continued to make their way further through the facility but both staggered and nearly fell down due to neither being on the same page. "The red sun lamps, clever, negating powers, and these handcuffs keep them negated. But no, they're really trying to rattle us right now."

"You mean to tell me that you're not rattled?"

Lily peered over her shoulder before she remarked to Tess in a cool and collected tone of voice.

"I don't do rattled."

Tess shook her head, so she didn't. One redhead pulled the other around the Checkmate base as the two of them tried to find their own way out of here. It wasn't that easy to move when both of them were trying to escape in two different directions. They tried to pull each others arms out of their sockets and Lily and Tess swayed from one direction to another.

'_Harry, I'm reaching out to you, please pick up,' _Tess thought, actually come to think of it, Harry did not tell her exactly how to work this bond link thing.

"If you're trying to contact my son, it won't work," Lily offered Tess and Tess eyed Lily for a few seconds. "The connection is skewed, you'll never get through at all in this building, just give it up."

"I don't give up that easily," Tess told Lily as she tried to find any way out, a fire escape, anything. She turned around and Lily dangled unhelpfully at her side.

"Could you watch it a little bit?" Lily asked but this request was ignored.

Tess had been knocked out and held a captive in her own home thanks to Lily months ago. Therefore she was not feeling much compassion for her now. She continued to drag Lily behind her. The woman's mind was going a few hundred miles a moment, faster than a speeding bullet. The redhead closed her eyes, her breathing becoming more and more intense.

"I don't even know why you were even here in the first place," Tess commented in a pained grimace, as Lily dead weighted her, refusing to allow Tess to lead the dance.

It was an obvious power play, Lily made sure Tess knew who was in control.

"I'm trying to help my son," Lily offered Tess after a few seconds.

Tess offered a very un-lady like snort before she turned her eyes towards Lily before there was a few seconds pause. "The sad thing about that is that you really believe the crap that's spewing out of your mouth don't you? You really think that you're doing what's best for Harry?"

"Listen, Tess, I don't think, I know so," Lily persisted with rage in her eyes. "This is not a conversation that I'm going to have with someone like you."

"Oh, and I'm sure that you selling out secrets to Lex Luthor was going to put you in his good books!" Tess fired back as her eyes narrowed with hostility.

"Given that you were Luthor's lap dog I don't think…."

Tess moved at super speed, finding she had enough power left to get out of here. So she had to move quickly and choose her spots wisely. If she went too fast, her clothes could be ripped off and that would be a more perilous situation than anything else. The redhead continued to speed towards the exit with the other redhead chained against her wrist. Time ran down quicker yet.

"Could you slow down?" Lily asked in determination but they were outside of the Checkmate facility.

"I got us out, didn't I?" Tess asked Lily but Lily's expression turned rather twisted.

"Yeah, you got us out, for what it was worth," Lily chimed in, unable to believe of the reckless steps that this woman had taken to do so. Lily was about ready to give her what for but there was no time to do so. Rather the time ticked down and Lily shifted her expression off to the side.

The witch staggered to the side and there was a thumping around the back of her head.

"I don't think we have much time anyway for what it's worth," Lily muttered, wishing that she was able to use magic to double check these things. However, they would have to make do with some well-placed guess work. "They wouldn't give us much time to figure a way out."

"Well, things just went from bad to worse," Tess offered Lily before she tried to turn her head around.

She had to find a way to get out of here, before it was too late. Tess found herself racked with a certain amount of nervousness, although she tried not to show it. There was a loud rattling inside the timer which caused her to jerk her head up and around.

"Dare I ask…."

Lily was all too happy to inform her of the situation, well in a sense of the word. "The timer is accelerating to twice its normal speed. We have even less time than we did before.

Lily did not expect to die tonight, well she did not expect to die again. All she wanted to do was find out more information regarding the Red Queen, a person's whose identity eluded her. The more she thought about it, the more she wondered if the person that she was searching for was right in front of her.

Could this entire handcuff scheme by some kind of gambit to lure her into a false sense of security, to cause her to spill the secrets of her plans to this woman?

Tess did not really expect to die tonight either. All she wanted to was find information about the identity of Checkmate's most elusive agent, the Red Queen. The more Tess thought about it, the more she wondered if the person who was handcuffed to her was this individual. She tried to pull herself free but it failed.

Tess knew that she could not…no she must not…she would not….Tess would not inform her of anything.

* * *

"You've got be kidding me, after all of this time, she just hands it over," Kara stated as Harry informed them what Alex did with the Book of RAO.

Harry was as equally baffled by the situation. His double was playing a rather dubious game as well and he spent a few hours scanning the Book of RAO for any kind of tricks she might have left on it. So far there were no hidden gimmicks on it, which Harry was glad for. He did not know whether or not he could trust something like that being handed over to him so easily.

"So what do you think she's up to?" Karen asked in a calm voice, as the three Heralds of Death stood in a huddle with each other. Harry raised an eyebrow. "I just….figure you might have a clue since she is you…more or less."

"Yes, more or less," Harry agreed but it was a far more complex situation then it appeared at first sight.

There was one problem that Kara brought up in a heartbeat.

"Now, that we have the Book of RAO, what do we do with it?" Kara asked and that was a question that went unanswered for some amount of time. The three Heralds of Death stood in silence but none of them wanted to be the one that stated any decisive action. Time ticked by as the Heralds thought about the situation. "Um…guys."

"No, I don't really know, we have it but there's no clear indication of what it's going to do," Harry offered, making sure that the book was placed in a hidden location. "We have another problem, the Kandorians are divided and if some kind of civil war happens…."

"The situation is clear like it always has been, take out Zod," Karen remarked to Harry, unable to believe that he of all people missed the blatantly obvious solution.

"It does seem obvious that we take Zod out, doesn't it?" Harry asked Karen and Karen shrugged her shoulders before giving the most obvious in the world "yeah duh" expression on her face. The blonde continued to survey Harry for a few seconds. "I trust you're familiar with what happens when a power vacuum opens up."

"Well you should be able to fill that easily," Karen remarked.

"If I knew all of the players in this situation, yes I could, but with Checkmate, Alex, and my mother all on the board, things are going to get a lot trickier all too soon," Harry commented in a light tone of voice before he shifted his expression. There was a sense that the mood was about to change.

True enough there was a flickering of an echo that went through Harry's mind. He paused and stalled before he heard her flicker in from the other side.

'_Harry, we have a problem,' _Tess thought to him through the bond link. _'Actually we've had a problem….for a long time, well providing that you could hear me.'_

'_I don't….I don't think…what is it now Tess?' _Harry asked,there was a certain amount of dread that flickered through his mind and in his eyes. He wondered if this could get much worse than what had already happened.

Tess filled him in on what was going on and yes, Harry thought that things were going to be bad but he did not expect what she told him. It just went to show people that he was proven wrong.

'_Well It started….when I was in Checkmate looking up information,' _Tess projected to Harry, trying to keep her mind calm even though she was a few seconds away from losing it. Yet she kept herself as calm as could be. _'And then….then I ran into your mother.'_

Harry let out the breath that he was holding, as Kara and Karen listened in on the other side of the bond link. There was a long pause before he decided to respond to her.

'_Continue,' _Harry thought to her, wondering if this could get any worse.

'_We got handcuffed together, because Checkmate found us out,' _Tess thought to them.

Harry let out a long whistle before he turned his head around and folded his arms. His foot tapped on the ground and he let out the long breath that he had been holding in. The wizard kept his expression neutral despite the fact that he was this close to losing his mind.

'_Is there any way for you to get out?' _Harry asked to them, trying to keep his cool.

Tess's tone kept even but also frustrated. _'No.'_

She paused before she amended the statement with even more information. _'It's set to explode in less than twenty minutes, from my estimation.'_

Harry let out his breath in a whistle.

'_Oh boy,' Harry thought to himself, _he wondered if this day could get any worse. Surely there was no way it could?

Actually Harry decided that it would be best not to tempt fate. If he had learned one thing, it was that without a shadow of a doubt, things were going to get rather hard fairly quickly. Everything got trickier from there. He mentally hammered out a solution, running his fingers through his hair as he did so.

Things could have been a lot worse but then again, he already thought that.

'_Stay put, I'll be there as soon as I can,' _Harry thought.

"What is Waller thinking?" Karen asked but that question was not answered by Harry, at least for the moment.

Mostly because he did not know himself what the woman was thinking.

* * *

Clark Kent was still shaken from the events of the past day. There were many times over the past few months where he wondered if he was doomed to do the wrong thing no matter what he tried. He wondered if he should have accepted his power loss all of those months ago.

"Clark, your angst is overpowering, I can sense it from over here."

That statement, blunt as always, was given from one Lois Lane. Lois was not about to let Clark get away with complaining and bemoaning his lot in life, that much was for certain. The dark haired woman turned her head towards Clark and his heart thumped against his chest as she kept her eyes firmly on him, irritation swimming through them.

"Lois, it's alright, I'm fine, really," Clark offered her, as he waved his hand towards her.

Lois raised an eyebrow and sure enough Lana and Raya were closely behind.

"I don't need an entire patrol to keep me out of trouble," Clark offered to Lois. "Or was it Harry who put you up to this again?"

Lana's face crossed with a few seconds of annoyance and she was about to put Clark's head in a brace so he'd stop peering over his shoulder like that. "Clark, don't you think that you're being a bit paranoid?"

"Why, does Harry think I'm being paranoid?" Clark asked as his eyes darted in the most paranoid manner possible but Lois grabbed him around the head and held his face steady.

"Stop…just stop, you're doing it again," Lois stated as she wished to smack some sense into Clark, repeatedly if she could muster the ability to do so. "Clark….I know you're not having the best time in the world but….not everything should live and die on your angst."

"She is correct…."

Clark's super hearing perked up and he saw something in the distance. He wondered if Lois should be out and about after the ordeal she suffered the other day. Yet, she was on her feet, about as well as one could expect given the circumstances.

"What is it?" Lana asked, sensing that Clark was on a greater edge than ever before.

Clark hushed her up and crept forward, his nerves rocking towards a greater level. The Last Son of Krypton kept his movements brisk, careful not to tip off anyone to his being there. He had the sense that there was someone there.

A hand grabbed Clark from behind and he spun around to nearly hit the person who grabbed him but it was Kara who stood there behind him. The blonde blinked, his hand coming perilously to hitting her but he pulled back, his knuckles flexing together as he slowly pulled back.

"Whoa there Clark," Kara breathed as she stepped back. She surveyed her cousin cool and collected. "Tense much?"

"Sorry Kara it's just….what are you doing here?" Clark asked but the blonde's eyes flickered before a smile crossed her face.

"What are you doing here?" Kara countered and Clark sighed, they were going to play this game, weren't they?

"We got a message that someone wanted to meet us here," Clark commented in a brisk tone of voice.

"It's a trap, obviously."

There was another figure who stood in the shadows and Clark blinked. At first he thought that it was Lily Potter, but her eyes were a different color. She was dressed in black robes with her red hair pulled back. On those robes were the same death symbol that represented the Heralds of Death.

"You're not the only one who wears your house symbol with pride, Kal-El," Alex remarked as she watched him. He did not impress her at all upon first impression but she was willing to give him another chance to make a better impression. "I wish to speak to you."

"Why do you want to speak to me?" Clark asked her. "Who are you?"

"My name is Alexandra Potter," Alex told him as she shifted on her feet.

Kara remained silent, whether or not Alex would tell them that Harry now had the Book of RAO, none of them knew.

"Great, another female of mystical origin to give us headaches," Lana remarked as she stared down Alex.

Alex smiled at the other woman. "I see your personality is wonderful as usual, Lana."

Lana was at a loss to whether or not she had been praised or insulted. The expression on the young woman's face was hard to read. She looked like a carbon copy of Lily Potter, except for the eyes, the brown eyes that flickered towards them. Of course, she wondered if this was her true face, she seemed to be a person rooted in deception and lies.

"The Kandorians will be tested to see if they are worthy," Alex remarked briskly.

Harry showed up at this point, he did not have time for games; he needed to find Tess or his mother.

"Answers, please, I'd like them," Harry told her but the red haired witch smiled.

"You'd have them, if you read between the lines, dear Harry," Alex remarked as she turned towards him. "It is all within the Ravenclaw Covenant. There will either be a new age of Krypton or a full scale destruction of both races. There is no in between. The cataclysm is near."

Clark and Harry turned towards each other; they were for once in agreement. Neither trusted this woman. Call it experience, call it whatever, but they were in agreement.

"Got problems, you deal with her," Harry told Clark.

"Deal with her…."

"Yes, Kal, deal with her," Harry stated harshly as he scrambled away. He thought that Clark could try and deal with the insanity for once.

There were some days where he wondered if he took on too much. It was about time for people to start solving problems for him and not the other way around. He wasn't Clark's fucking nanny after all, that was the job of Lois, Raya, and Lana, and besides he had far bigger problems to deal with.

He heard the ticking noise and he knew that he was close. Harry sped off in the other direction.

'_We're running out of time,' _Harry thought to his two fellow Heralds.

Lily looked at the device; each tick could be the last. Each tick could be the moment where everything came crashing down.

"Well, I'm looking for a solution, feel free to do something to bail me out," Tess stated in an agitated tone of voice. "You have all the answers, don't you?"

"Be silent," Lily told Tess, she was not in the mood to deal with this.

Tess was also not in the mood and she tried to find a way to squirm out of this. Maybe if she moved just right with her remaining strength she could snap the chain and free herself. Granted that could cause Lily to explode into hundreds of chunks of blood but that was an acceptable loss that she was willing to make. The redhead understood that even more than anyone else although she felt weaker yet. Her powers waned to the merest flicker.

Harry popped up, muttered a few words underneath his breath and the explosive device crawled to a stop, before it vanished like it was nothing.

"Three more ticks and it would have been over," Harry informed Tess, before she even had a chance to greet him in any way.

"Well if that isn't cutting it close, I don't know what is," Tess remarked to Harry but Clark moved over.

"You won't believe this but I was talking to her one minute and the next minute she disappeared," Clark told Harry and Harry placed his hands on the side of his head.

"Clark, if you think that I wouldn't believe that….well you don't really know anything at all," Harry commented to Clark dismissively as he looked around.

The moment Tess and Lily got uncuffed, Lily used the three seconds his attention was turned elsewhere to do a runner of her own. Which was all well and good, except this time, Harry was prepared for her to runaway. She was trying to outmaneuver him all behind but Harry was the one who controlled the chessboard, at least for tonight.

"She was the one who destroyed the towers," Clark informed Tess and Harry and both of them eyed each other.

"Wonderful, did she tell you why she wanted to manufacture total war between Kandor and Earth?" Tess asked Clark but he shook his head. The redhead businesswoman threw her heads up in response. "Well, you're useless as ever."

Tess turned around, to think Lex wasted years of his life obsessing over this one. He had power granted and potential but what good was potential if it went constantly unfulfilled time and time again. It really was something that angered her, to see someone waste what had been given to them.

Without another word, Tess switched to the link that her and Harry shared.

'_And I'm guessing that you didn't know that Checkmate was going to pull what they pulled,' _Tess thought and Harry responded in negative.

'_There are times where they pull something out of the hat that's unexpected, I'll give them that,' _Harry admitted to her as he shifted his positioning. _'You know now that they know that you're not loyal to the cause, that you'll be hunted down.'_

'_I'm a survivor Harry, surely you know that by now,' _Tess thought back to him and Harry grabbed her around the hand, before a smile crossed his face. His eyes met hers, both of them sharing equal amounts of passion. Time passed before Harry said the answer.

'_Believe me Tess, I know, I know better than any other person in the world.'_

* * *

Checkmate was a government organization that expected many things from its members. They expected loyalty, for a covert government organization needed to make sure that everyone was on the same page. Some groups were not even on the same book and that's why they failed. They were not going to fail, the fate of the entire world was on the line.

They also expected things to go as planned, they expect competence. Not to mention that there was one thing above all else that Checkmate expected and that was that all loose ends should be cleared up one by one. There was going to be no dangling threads that could be wrapped around their necks and strangle them.

"So once again, Harry Potter made a fool out of you?"

Those were the words that came from the mouth of Maxwell Lord. He was pretty sure that there was a pair of Checkmate agents that tailed Harry the entire way. Just about ten minutes ago, they appeared, stripped to their boxer shorts, all equipment that was on them seized and said equipment could not be tracked. And that included confidential Checkmate information that they had on them.

That was what one might call a disaster of epic proportions.

"It wasn't our fault…."

Lord tried to shift any information out of their minds to see if he could find a clue, any clue that pertained to what Harry Potter was up to. There was a spark in their eyes and their memories were blocked. Certainly he could break their minds down and pluck the information he needed but that would take much more time than the organization was willing to allow.

Which was a pity but that was just how things worked more often than not. Although he did have to say that if he was allowed a chance to crack open their minds, then there would be nothing of value that was lost. That was something that he could take to the bank more often than not.

"Lord!"

The voice of Amanda Waller could be heard and she walked towards Lord with a purpose. The man tried to keep himself calm and with dignity.

"Potter defeated us again," Lord stated as he turned towards Waller. "As the Black King I'm…."

"You do not want to play chess with Harry Potter, he changes the entire board," Waller offered Lord crisply. She had not found out about Lord's entire gambit until late in the game, right around the time that the disgraced checkmate agents were sent back, humiliated.

The woman could not believe the fact that Harry Potter defeated them time and time again; there were times where she should have had him. Waller felt him in her grasp but much like the snake he was, he slipped away. He was cunning and not willing to play by any rules. He did not fear any authority nor did he answer to them. That made him all the more dangerous and made him nothing but a disturber of a well-organized game.

"What does our illustrious Red Queen say about our wayward wizard?" Lord asked Waller and there was a time where Waller's eyes flickered towards Lords face.

"She states that he is a necessity that we have to coexist with," Waller admitted as she placed a hand on her chin and eyed Lord. "I don't know who she thinks…."

"The Red Queen is a higher authority that we have to coexist with," Lord offered but there was a small amount of disdain dripping from his voice regarding this individual . "If I may suggest…."

"No Lord, we're not going to get involved with Harry Potter any more, he's embarrassed us one time too many, Checkmate is losing legitimacy every time that we are defeated by him," Waller remarked as she turned her head around and eyed Lord. She offered four words that would live in infamy. "Leave him to Downfall."

Lord's eyes widened, there was really no more than needed to be said other than that.

* * *

Vala sat on the edge of the bed in the room that had been prepared for her in the Shining Light Foundation. The ordeal that she suffered happened so quickly that she could scarcely remember it. All that she knew was that Harry saved her. Like he would not do something noble and rescue her, that was something that she could take to the bank.

Faora decided that perhaps she read Harry wrong. She was allowed to stay in the Shining Light Foundation until Vala completely recovered although after a few days, the woman was on the mend.

"Vala, I'm….I'm guessing that I read him wrong," Faora remarked, he did as he said he was going to. "He is the one, truly he is, our savior."

"What of Zod?" Vala asked Faora, while she had her own doubts about Zod and his sincerity about giving their powers back; she wanted to hear it from her sister. She was second in command from the beginning.

Faora had to admit something to both herself and to Vala.

"Zod was another man that I was mistaken about as well," Faora admitted. She let out her breath in a long sigh and placed a hand on the side of her face. Zod had great qualities but he lost sight of many of them and would destroy any future hopes that the Kandorians had. "It appears that I have mastered the fine art of placing my foot in my mouth."

"Well it happens to the best of us."

Faora spun around and saw Harry standing there. There was a moment where she appeared flushed but maintained a certain amount of dignity.

"How long have you been standing there?" Faora asked Harry and the sorcerer smiled back towards her.

"About five seconds before you said that you mastered the fine art of placing your foot in your mouth," Harry told her and Faora inclined her head with a sharp nod.

"Understandable," Faora remarked but then she set her jaw. She was a prideful woman for many reasons. "I was a bit short with you earlier…."

"I wasn't the one who was responsible for the towers destruction," Harry informed both of the Kandorians.

"That tower….it might have been a curse to begin with," Faora told Harry, now that she had some time to think about things rationally. "I fear that Zod is losing sight of what's important and that is serving his fellow Kandorians instead of his own selfish aims."

"He has been dedicated, headstrong, but what he's doing now, it worries both of us," Vala added as she stepped forward towards Harry. "I understand if you think…."

"I know what Zod could become," Harry offered with a sigh. "I've always known what Zod could become but I've given him an even chance to become something that was different."

"You wished to give him the chance to prove that your expectations were wrong," Vala commented as she placed her hands around Harry's waist. "It was understandable and that proves your nobility."

"I'm glad that my sister is…." Faora remarked as Vala pressed her lips onto Harry's with a searing kiss, which he returned with an equally heated passion. The two of them kissed each other deeply and their arms locked around each other with a deep sigh. She commented in a slightly distracted tone, "And she wishes to thank you."

Vala broke away as she unbuttoned Harry's shirt and ran her fingers down his muscular chest, tracing every inch of what he had to offer. She turned over her shoulder and stared at Faora. "Don't pretend that you haven't thought of what he's capable of."

Faora's normally proud expression became extremely flustered, she did think of what Harry might be capable of and those thoughts caused her cheeks to burn for a little bit. Not to mention certain areas around her body became engulfed with heat.

"I'm sure Harry won't mind if you wish to act upon those desires," Vala offered as she straddled Harry's hips and he worked the long over shirt that she wore over her head to reveal her sexy body as she straddled him.

Faora's eyes widened as Harry pulled her towards him as well, as Vala made room. The two met in a passionate kiss. It was nothing like Faora had ever experienced before in her life and it caused chills to run down her spine in anticipation.

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends.**

One thing was for certain; all the fluids in Harry's body were capable of granting women Kryptonian powers. Faora and Vala needed to recruit their other fellow females to indulge in this fun.

As for the males, well they could find their own way.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter "A Night in Gotham."**


	22. Chapter 22: Night in Gotham

**Chapter Twenty Two: A Night in Gotham City. **

Harry arrived in Gotham City, dressed in his nicest business suit. Of course, he thought that a suit did not suit him at all but he was going to play nice for the evening because it was an important business venture and potential partnership between LuthorCorp and Wayne Industries. This could put both companies even further on the map then they were.

If Harry was even more paranoid, he would have thought that there was something up regarding the fact that Bruce Wayne offered the partnership. He talked it over with Tess, Kara, and Karen and they all agreed that it would be useful to have another ally in the business world. Especially given the RAO Corporation was becoming more suspect as Zod's grip on reality was slipping. He wondered if Zod had caught onto the fact that all the females in his army were defecting in droves.

Harry entered into the press conference where the camera flashes bombarded him. Kara stood to his right, dressed in a red dress that wrapped snugly around her curves, along with a matching pair of heels. Her blonde hair was tied back and she wore a pair of glasses.

Karen stepped through next, dressed in a white dress, that wrapped around her even more prominent curves. She wore a pair of glasses as well and smiled, it was important to grin and bear it, even though some of the vultures of the press were getting on her nerves. The blonde crossed her arms under her breasts as she got a good look at the masses of people that were present.

'_Wow, I didn't think that there would be that many people here,' _Karen thought to herself as she shook her head.

'_Guess we thought wrong,' _Harry offered to both of his wives who stood beside him but a third showed up to join them.

Diana was dressed in a business suit, with her dark hair tied up into a loose bun, and a pair of glasses on. She stepped forward, looking rather severe and determined. She played the role of Harry's bodyguard, although it was not really necessary. It was more that she was here to protect people from doing something stupid that would get them hurt by Harry.

'_Well it is a pretty big event,' _Tess thought to Harry from across the room. _'Wayne made us an offer that we couldn't refuse.'_

'_He's good at doing that,' _Kara projected to them all and they agreed.

Harry turned around as he noticed Lois standing there in the press area. Clark was a bit further back his eyes locked on Zod who had showed up shortly after Tess did apparently.

Diana led the way, with Harry, Kara, and Karen following a short distance behind her. The quartet reached Zod.

"Zod," Harry offered to the Kandorian and Zod responded with a crisp nod.

"Well, I must admit that I was interested by Mister Wayne's proposal, given that the partnership between the RAO Corporation and LuthorCorp is still intact," Zod offered to them and Harry and Tess locked eyes. "So I did wonder if our billionaire friend would be interested in a three way partnership."

"I'm open to negotiation."

Bruce Wayne joined them with a calm expression on his face as he walked forward, watching the young man. He extended a hand towards Zod who looked at him before giving him a firm handshake. "Bruce Wayne."

"Zod," Zod remarked as he looked in the eyes of this billionaire. Zod calculated that he was the type who could be easily manipulated. "I've heard of your company's work Mister Wayne, and I'm quite impressed with it."

The members of the press settled in for the conference. Tess sat down next to Harry on his left, Kara was next to Harry on his right, Karen sat next to Kara, and Diana remained standing though she was a bit further back towards the wall behind them, which would allow her to keep an eye out for any potential danger. Bruce Wayne sat on the other side of the podium from Tess, and Zod took the seat next to him two of Zod's retainers milled about, Harry recognized them as members of the Kandorian army. The two of them folded their arms and turned their heads around as they scanned the crowd, a grim expression on their faces. They were not the type to mess with.

'_So, this should be a nice night, hopefully we won't have any problems to deal with,' _Kara remarked hopefully to Harry.

'_Yes, let's hope so,' _Harry agreed through the mental link they shared.

"Innovation is the pillar of all business," Bruce stated as he walked up to the podium. "But if there is one thing that is greater than innovation, it is cooperation. This partnership between Luthorcorp and Wayne Industries will be something that will allow both companies to continue to thrive. Together we will innovate beyond anything thought possible. We will take both our companies to new and previously undreamt of heights."

There were loud cheers as everyone got up to their feet and clapped. Bruce waited for the applause to die down.

"Our partnership will…."

There was a loud ringing that kept Bruce from getting the rest of his statement out. Diana shifted forwards, looking even more alert then before.

Tess whispered in Harry's ear. "Now what?"

Harry shrugged; he had no idea what was going on. He rocked back in the chair, his head arched off to one side. His heart began to beat quicker as he waited for something to happen. The sorcerer bounced up to his feet.

Kara followed him up to his feet and pointed out something.

There were a group of cloaked figures dressed in ninja garb that dropped down into the crowd, smoke flowing in the air around them. The quartet of ninjas rushed forwards and Bruce got up to his feet.

For a second, he thought that he was the target, but he was thrown through the stage like he was an afterthought. The billionaire playboy got close enough to plant a tracking device, even if he had to take a relatively huge dive to accomplish that task.

There was an explosion that blew up bits of the stage. Harry, Kara, and Karen levitated several members of the Wayne Industries Board of Directors out of harm's way.

"Get him!" a woman cloaked in green stated, her eyes flickering from beneath the half mask she wore.

Harry thought for a moment that they were talking about him and moved to defend himself accordingly. A trio of ninjas dropped down twisting a dial on their sleeves as they landed. A glowing green fluid pumped into their veins. The Heralds watched this and they picked up on what was happening in a hurry.

'_The chemical….no that's….we cleared that all up,' _Kara thought as she watched them grow.

'_Missed some,' _Harry remarked as he analyzed what he had to do. A frown crossed the face of the Herald of Death. _'And they've seemed to have fine-tuned the formula just a bit.'_

'_That figures,' _Karen thought to herself, her eyes narrowing as she placed her hands on her hips, the blonde's face curling into a frustrated expression.

The three Heralds of Death rushed towards the three super enhanced ninjas. The ninjas grabbed all three Heralds around the waist, holding them into place. They all struggled, kicking and thrashing against the grip that they had been put in. There was no question about it, this wasn't going to be a night where they could phone it in.

'_Yeah, this isn't….going to end well,' _Kara thought but never the same she blasted out of the attack.

The super enhanced ninja staggered and Kara unloaded on him with a series of punches. Shot after shot nailed him in the face and staggered her enemy, each punch getting more brutal. The blonde made her knuckles bleed on the face of the individual then the young lady grabbed the ninja around the leg. She pushed the leg back and with a solid crack knocked him down.

Diana went toe to toe with three normal ninjas at once. They were not enhanced but they did a brutal job of keeping the woman on her toes. The Amazon's attacks become more frantic, with the dark haired woman knocking them around.

"These guys….they play for keeps," Diana breathed.

Clark edged over, hearing the sounds of battle and the chaos reigned around them. An individual dressed in a trench coat along with a black latex mask stepped towards him.

"A nice night, isn't it, Mr. Kent?" the man stated with a slight hint of a Hispanic accent. "Or shall I call you the Blur?"

"Who are you?" Clark demanded, as he knocked two of the ninjas back and saw Batman had arrived to join the chaos.

"You see, I am someone who is far superior to your inferior intelligence," the man stated. "I shall be the bane of your existence, Mr. Kent."

Clark eyed this man who continued in a gruff tone.

"Come with me willingly and there's no need for you to get hurt."

Clark's eyes flickered before he looked outraged at that thought. "You really think….that you can hurt me?"

"Think, I don't think, I know that I can break you."

The Last Son of Krypton looked over this man from head to toe, true he was in good shape, but Clark had went toe to toe with muscled up thugs before and won. Despite the confidence that he's lacked, Clark thought he could take someone like this.

"I've already exceeded you in strength of the mind but this…." he stated pulling off the trench coat to reveal a dial and a system of tubes going through his body. "Can also match you in strength of the body."

He turned the dial and the substance slowly pumped into his body.

Lois rushed forward, as a preemptive strike and tried to punch him but her hand impacted his chest which in hindsight was not the best idea.

"DAMN IT!" Lois yelled in agony as she felt the bones crack in her hand. She was picked up by the scruff of the neck and hurled across the room like a ragdoll.

Bane turned around to face him, and Clark tried to nail him but his hand was blocked with a bone jarring impact. He wrapped his hands around the Kryptonian's neck and began to choke him out with great fury. Clark tried to break himself out but he tried to break the choke with a series of frantic elbow strikes.

Bane coked him into unconsciousness. His head became even lighter headed as mountain of a man was stood on Clark's chest for that extra point of emphasis. A collar snapped around his neck, along with a chain, before he was dragged off.

"We have the two targets," the cloaked woman stated, as the Dark Knight dropped down. She looked over her shoulder, to the trio of ninjas standing next to her. "Stall him."

The three ninjas rushed Batman and tried to attack him. The Dark Knight made quick work of them but not quick enough. Another bomb went off which caused the people around them to scream in agony.

Zod and Clark had been kidnapped and they didn't know where they had been taken.

* * *

Clark Kent's eyes flickered open; he had never been knocked around so much barring Doomsday. His head was swimming, and he swore that he saw more ninjas than there actually were.

"I demand to know what the meaning of this is," Zod stated, as he felt the pain, his ribs were broken, his powers should have healed him but they were not doing their job.

"Do you not like it when your own experiments are turned against you?"

Zod's expression flickered towards an aged man dressed in a green cloak who stood at the top of a pedestal looking down upon them. The man's arms were folded across his chest as he kept his gaze upon his enemies. He had the air of a man who had aged a great number of years in an extremely short amount of time.

"Your little serum might be temporary, but it will do the trick quite nicely," the aged man suddenly slumped forwards against the pedestal in front of him using it to brace himself from falling to the ground. Moving in any way appeared to cause him great agony, and the woman beside him moved forwards to help prop him up.

"Father you should rest," she informed him.

"In a moment, Talia, I wish to address them and explain to them why I invited them here," the man stated as he forced himself to stand once more to his full height and Talia bowed her head in a respectful manner before stepping back.

"Invited us, that's rich, given that you put a lot of innocent lives in danger, for what," Clark yelled but the old man pushed a button and a painful pulse of energy shot through his body.

"You will be silent," the man stated as he continued to shock Clark until the sheer agony dropped him to his knees. "You remember me, Star Child. We've met once before, you won your battle with the Destroyer. Congratulations, you've proven yourself to be competent enough to be allowed to be part of this experiment."

Clark's eye twitched as he tried to push his head up only to collapse back down to the ground. He mouthed the next few words, practically stammering as he spoke.

"W-what experiment," he breathed, trying to turn his attention to the individual that stood above him.

Clark was at a loss for words and he knew his time was about to run out. His hands became quite numb as he tried to once more to lift his head up towards his enemy.

"Age is a mistress that has left me ship wrecked over the years," Ra's Al Ghul rasped. Moving from the Pedestal he took hold of a cane which his daughter offered to him, he turned his gaze back towards them. "There have been many years in my life, some that were good, others not so much."

Ra's paused, looking reflective as he used the cane to sustain a stance.

"The years that I was among the prime of my life were the ones that I was strong," Ra's offered them. "I sustained myself much longer any anyone should thanks to the assistance of my Lazarus pit."

Ra's placed his hand on his heart as he suddenly started to let out rasping cough. It ended nearly as soon as it started, and his expression became mournful and dare Clark think it, almost regretful.

"Your minders will not be able to track you here, do not even bother sending a mental beacon to them," Ra's added as he sat down, his head lowering, as he finally succumbed to his own weakness. His expression did not falter despite the fact that he was losing sense of himself. "Age….is a misery and a mistress. We must all learn to cope with it, for it will be our demise in the end."

He twisted his head back up to face the two Kryptonians that had been captured. The two of them waited next to each other, both powerless. They noticed the red solar lamps that pumped over their heads, of course someone like Ra's Al Ghul would allow for their weaknesses.

"I have a sacred mission so you must forgive me, but I do not wish to leave the mortal coil just yet," Ra's offered them in a crisp tone of voice. "I wish to have a vessel to continue my life."

"So, what does that have to do with us?" Zod demanded fiercely as he tried to push himself up but he collapsed down to the ground, still weakened.

Ra's thought it was natural to see this Zod kneel before him.

"I need a body, I need strength, I need something that is immortal, therefore I will switch my brain patterns for one of yours," Ra's offered to them. "Underneath the yellow sun I will be able to sustain my life indefinitely and there is nothing that will be able to stop me."

Ra's paused for dramatic effect before he offered them a few more words.

"You will fight, to the death."

Ra's kept his expression neutral as he watched them.

"What if we refuse?" Clark demanded and Zod knew that this human was not going to go to all of the trouble of bring them here if he did not have some way to force them to comply.

"I know your weakness, Star Child, you wish to save as many lives as possible, no matter how meaninglessly or wasted they are," Ra's explained to them and his eyes flickered to challenge Zod. "And I know your weakness, Zod, despite your false bravado, you care about your fellow Kandorians and do not wish to see harm come to them. It's not a front but it has made you weak, soft, someone who is not even fit to kneel before myself."

Ra's twisted his head around to look at his minions before he continued to speak.

"And I will retrieve the Book of RAO, mark my word, and the League of Shadows will have dominion on this world,' Ra's concluded as he folded his hands over his lap. He offered another coughing sound as his head twisted around.

Zod's expression did not falter, it got more ugly by the second, before he spat out a question.

"How do you know all of this?"

Ra's offered the most succulent explanation possible. "Do not think that I am without my resources. Even your Kandorians can be brought if I can offer them what you were unwilling to give them."

Zod felt a swipe at his own heart, it hurt to think that a Kandorian would give anything up to someone like Ra's Al Ghul. His fist clenched as he imagined choking this Demon Head out.

"And now you must fight," Ra's offered as he held up a detonator to show them what they were dealing with. "Or I will poison all of Metropolis and that includes your precious Kandorians as well."

That statement was let out and Ra's turned towards them.

"You must kill me," Zod offered as he turned to Clark, without missing a beating.

"What?" Clark asked Zod, unable to believe this brazen request.

"If you don't kill me, all of our brothers and sisters will suffer the consequences," Zod remarked, but that was not the real reason.

The real reason was that he would rather die at the hands of a fellow Kryptonian with honor, then sacrifice one second of his life as a vessel for this particular human. Clark's eyes widened as he watched him.

"Do it, or he'll kill everyone that you care about," Zod offered and he nailed Clark hard with a punch to knock him across the room. "No one can breach this temple, your protectors cannot save you from this, not in time."

Zod nailed Clark once again but at the second attack, the punch was blocked. The Kryptonian pushed his hand to push Zod's arm back with the two of them struggling for positioning but neither was able to get the dominate position over the other.

"Fight me!" Zod yelled to Clark as he pushed him back into the wall hard. "Unless you're as weak as the Kandorians and everyone else suspects you to be."

Clark lost it and slammed his fist into Zod's face. The Kandorian staggered back as Clark fired punch after punch into his chest, staggering him back. Zod struggled to maintain some kind of stance but he faltered as his knees wobbled beneath him, a bloodshot expression in his eyes.

"That's good, fight me," Zod encouraged him before he took another few punches.

The explosive punches rocked Zod and Clark did not get this at all. He did not get why Zod was not fighting back. He stood before him, his eyes flickered and blood poured from his nose as he tried to stand back up but he collapsed once more.

* * *

The guards stood around outside the temple and looked up in the air towards each other. There was a few seconds before they heard an echo crash around them. The guards stepped towards the sound.

"Spread out they have to be…."

There was an explosion as the guards were flipped over. They hung upside down and struggled, kicking and squirming. They stopped as they tried to get themselves out of their troublesome position but it was hard to do so no matter how much they kicked and screamed. The two guards dropped to the ground with a loud thump.

One of the ninjas rushed forward, swinging a sword. The sword shatter as it impacted with Kara, not even effecting her. The blonde's hand wrapped around his throat. With another fluid motion, she flung him into the wall. The ninja bounced off it and his eyes rolled in the back of his head, as he slumped down.

'_C'mon,' _Kara thought to Harry and the wizard nodded.

Harry looked over his shoulder and heard some footsteps behind him. The wizard stood still for a moment before he rocketed up into the air. He scouted the surroundings below him taking account of his enemies locations, before the wizard pulled his fist back and hurtled back towards the ground with blinding speed. His fist connected with it in an explosive punch that was enhanced further by magic that sent out a shock wave of such intensity that it sent the League of Shadows members he landed among flying in all directions. As he moved to stand once more to his full height Harry was forced to dodge to the side suddenly as darts flew through the air in his direction. Karen rushed over to aid him.

Karen offered her contribution to the fight as she squinted her eyes and launched heat vision at the darts. The poison dripped to the ground and Karen took in a deep breath. Then she let out her ice breath to punish the enemies which had fired the darts at Harry. They ended up frozen in place, unable to move from where they stood and Karen shot towards them with blinding speed knocking them off their feet with a viscous double clothesline. The ice melted around them but they'd been knocked unconscious due to the force of her attack.

Diana deflected a dagger with her bracelets but the ninja caught the dagger in his hand. He watched Diana, before motioning for her to come forward. The brunette Amazon's eyes narrowed in an intense glare at the individual. The Amazon placed a pair of hands on her hips and spun quickly shooting her lasso out. The lasso wrapped around the torso of one of the Ninja and Diana rolled, sending him flying through the air at another Assassin.

Both of them smacked together with a huge crack.

Batman dropped down and disappeared in a cloud of smoke. He evaded each of the ninja's attacks. A bone shattering kick to the back of the leg took one down and Batman knocked the katana out of the hands of another with a well placed Baterang.

"So have you figured out a way inside?" Batman asked Harry as the two fought side by side. The ninjas went down as easily as a sack of flour.

"Yes, some kind of mystical lock is blocking me, it's taking a lot of time to decode it," Harry offered as he shielded them from several shuriken with a magical attack. "It's a work in progress but give us some time, and we'll crack it."

Batman continued to fight; only offering Harry the barest of acknowledgements. He deflected more of the attacks with swift precision and kept circling his opponents. The World's Greatest Detective always kept two and three steps ahead of his opponent.

"Just hang on, we'll break it open," Kara breathed as heat vision incinerated the weapons of several assassins simultaneously. Karen followed this up by knocking them out.

The assassins thumped onto their asses as magically conjured ropes wrapped around them and secured them into place. More of them kept coming but if there was one thing that Harry found out was that the more ninjas there were, the less trouble they were going to be. It's almost like the odds of them being actually competent decreased as their numbers increased.

'_Just one more second,' _Harry thought to Diana, Kara, and Karen.

'_We believe in you, Harry, no pressure or anything,' _Diana thought back to him and Harry nodded.

'_Thanks a ton,' _Harry offered her, a smile brightened around his face as the lock swayed next to him.

They had mystics on this team but Harry was not going to back down without a fight. He cracked his knuckles and the doors blew open.

As much as Harry wished he was done, he knew better than that. Their work was only just beginning.

* * *

Clark knocked Zod around with a few more punches that rocked him. Every now and then Zod returned fire to make sure the Kryptonian was not going soft on him.

"If you don't kill me soon, you might live to regret it," Zod whispered, blood dripping from his mouth.

"I'd live to regret killing you," Clark offered but Zod picked up a busted piece of brick from the ground before he smashed it into Clark's head.

He slumped to one knee and Zod maneuvered around him. With a deft motion, Zod took Clark's own tie and began to choke him out.

"If that doesn't knock some sense into you, I don't know what will," Zod breathed in Clark's ear before letting him go. "This weakness is your greatest Achilles heel Kal-El. You will never survive a war if you don't learn that you should kill. It is the same failing that your father had."

Clark pushed himself out of the hold Zod had on him and grabbed him around the waist. Rushing forward, the Last Son of Krypton slammed Zod against the stone wall. His punches hammered into Zod's face, he delivered one after another, raining them down upon him. Zod struggled, closing his eyes as he watched the fists come in.

Once again, he stopped and an explosion resounded. Ra's arched his eyes towards the smoke and stood to his feet, leaning heavily on his cane.

"It's the detective," Ra's breathed out in a heavy tone of voice before he twisted his head to survey the ninjas. "Take them out."

His men rushed forward with swords blazing but Kara, Karen, and Harry flew in and caused the metal objects to fly from their hands. They brought the ninjas up into the air in a cyclone and flung them around with expert precision. The ninjas crashed to the ground hard and all of them gasped gave a pained groan as they struggled to get up.

Smoke pellets flung to the ground and an explosion resounded as Batman arrived. Ubu stampeded forward to try and attack the Dark Knight but he dodged the attacks. Punch after punch was dodged as Batman crouched down. He flipped up suddenly into the air and landed a huge kick to Ubu's chest, He followed that up by twisting his arm behind his back. With a huge crack across the back of the head the Dark Knight knocked him unconscious then tossed him to the ground with a thud.

Batman stood over him but there was a sound of an individual clapping slowly.

"Bane," Batman growled as he watched the man standing before him.

"I'm pleased you've heard of me, Batman, but now you're going to learn one thing and that is that I'm your executioner," Bane stated as he twisted the dial as the venom pumped into his body. His eyes became even more bloodshot as he spun around and kept his expression focused. "I will break you."

Bane charged Batman but the World's Greatest Detective ducked his head and rolled around the attack. The Dark Knight shot his grapnel up high and it retracted into the sky. He positioned himself on the podium, making Bane follow him.

"Come down here and fight me!" Bane yelled but Karen kicked him in the back of the head, sending him flying head over heels.

"Not in the mood to deal with this shit right now,' Karen offered before she dropped down one more time. Bane cracked his knuckles and rushed towards her but Karen ducked it.

Harry immobilized him and hoisted him up into the air. The Herald of Death flung him back to the ground with horrendous force and this allowed Batman's movement to become undeterred. He climbed up the wall and dropped down to face the Demons Head.

"One step closer, and I push this button, Detective," Ra's offered as he lifted his hand up with the remote control device and he turned his hand over. "Don't think that I will not…"

Kara sped past him to pluck the remote from his hand.

"You were saying," Batman offered but Ra's reached into his coat, and pulled out a dagger. He tried to stab Batman in the chest but the Dark Knight dodged the attack. The Dark Knight flipped over his head before he sent out a grapnel to wrap around the dagger.

The Caped Crusader slid around and grabbed Ra's around the side of his head but the Demon Head flung him off to the side. Batman landed on his feet and tried to wrap Ra's up but despite his advanced age, he dodged it.

"Looks like you weren't in the grave as much as you thought you were," Batman offered but a smoke bomb flicked into his eyes.

"I've got more than a few tricks up my sleeve, Detective," Ra's offered him as he slammed a hand into his chest and drove him back a few inches. "Now, shall we continue our dance?"

Ra's flipped up and briefly saw Bane barely hold his own against Power Girl, Arcane, and Supergirl on the ground.

"You think you can outrun me?" Bane asked taunting him. "My mind is strong, just as my body is."

"Well your mouth is pretty strong," Kara fired back as she focused at where the main tube was feeding him. "And congratulations for leaving the most obvious weakness in the world."

The blonde did not say much more than this, rather she allowed her actions speak much louder than her words. A shot of heat vision incinerated the tube and caused Bane to stagger for a moment but he recovered quickly.

"It's not going to be that easy, did you really think that would stop me?" Bane asked them but Karen knocked him in the face with a huge punch.

"You think you can outrun me?" Bane asked taunting them. "My mind is strong, just as my body is."

Bane dropped to the ground, now without the drug, he was fairly receptive to pain. When the ability to feel pain returned, it came back with a vengeance. He was knocked cross eyed and was out like a light from the punch.

"You're race is run, Detective," Ra's stated before he slammed him down over the railing and hung him, he dangled from one side to the other. "I'm going to make this really easy for you, but just think of what we could have done together."

Ra's was about to bring the sword down on Batman but Clark came back up and knocked him off the ledge. Ra's had a sword extended and the next thing he knew, he fell of the ledge. His body went first and then his sword perilously hung over him as it impaled into him.

Clark's eyes widened, he could not believe that he did something like that. The blood from the sword wound splashed out of his chest as he rolled over, the sword having gone straight through him, the tip extending outwards from his back.

"You took quite the shot at him,' Batman offered as Clark helped him up but Ubu rushed over, before scooping up his master and sprinting out the backdoor.

Clark stepped forward but Batman grabbed him around the wrist.

"Let him go, this temple's likely to collapse upon itself," Batman told Clark and the Last Son of Krypton nodded as he realized what was happening.

It was time to book it out of there, double time.

* * *

The Temple did self-destruct and most of the members of the League of Shadows vanished into the night. The Dark Knight's expression flickered towards Clark as he waited.

"Your friend's left," Batman offered to him in a calm expression.

"Zod isn't my friend," Clark said to Batman as Batman's kept his gaze upon him. Clark was not as good at reading people as Harry was so he became rather annoyed. "This is my fault, isn't it?"

"Depends on what you're referring to," Batman offered in a calm tone of voice, his hand closing and opening but his eyes were fixed on Clark. "You could stand to be a bit more specific."

"Zod, I should have ended it when I had the chance," Clark offered as doubt flooded through his mind.

The wind whipping through the air was extremely cold.

"Perhaps you should, perhaps you shouldn't have."

Harry popped up now and edged over to face Clark. The two young men, stubborn in different ways, locked eyes with each other. Neither of them wanted to back down from the position that they were in. There was a pause before Harry spoke up once again.

"Zod is a situation that we're learning that there are a lot of uncounted variables to," Harry offered but Clark's eyes focused on Harry's.

"Here's an uncounted variable for you, there's someone in the Kandorian army feeding Ra's Al Ghul information," Clark offered Harry. Kara and Karen walked up behind him. "Why would they betray Zod like that?"

Kara decided to try a different tact. "Why wouldn't they betray Zod like that?"

No one could argue a statement like that. The blonde's eyes narrowed as she faced her cousin.

"Zod could be playing mind games with you, I guess," Kara remarked as she shrugged. "But that explains how he knows about the Book of RAO."

"I've been searching for it, so far nothing," Batman commented to Clark.

'_Could it be that we've pulled one over the big bad bat?' _Harry offered to them, scarcely able to believe it. Even Kara, Karen, and now Diana ,who re-joined the group after keeping guard on the outside of the temple, were skeptical by this.

Batman in particular had his own suspicions; he had been trying to make inroads into Checkmate in order to track they were up to. So far the World's Greatest Detective had hit numerous dead ends, one after another. He was not about to give up, not now, not ever. That was not in the genetic makeup of Batman.

There were a lot of things that Batman wanted to know.

"I trust you're keeping an eye on the Kandorians," Batman told Harry but the wizard's smile spread over his face.

"Trust me, Batman, this isn't my first rodeo," Harry offered to him.

'_He thinks you're new at this, doesn't he?' _Diana thought as she kept her eyes locked onto that of Batman's. She sensed the mistrust radiating off of him. Then again she had a feeling that this was just a part of who he was.

_That's just how Batman is,' _Harry thought to them._ 'We should try and salvage the rest of the night although something tells me that a meeting with ninjas attacking us is going to delay a lot.' _

'_You figure,' _Karen thought to them.

Clark meanwhile was haunted by the words that Zod told him. Zod informed him that he would live to regret letting Zod live. It seemed like the easiest thing in the world take a life but he could not bring himself to do it. The experience with Doomsday nearly caused him to lose his humanity and that was not a step that Clark wanted to take ever again.

He wondered how much more he could reach out to Zod. The Major turned General was one of the greatest war criminals in all of Krypton.

It was times like this where he wished he could go to the Fortress to speak to Jor-El, to seek out his advice but he would not be able to go there. He had strictly been forbidden by his mother to set one foot into that place. He did not know how she could tell him to do anything, he was a grown man.

Clark had many thoughts on his mind as Lois met him at the edge of the road before he made his way off.

* * *

Harry was back at the Shining Light Foundation and he sat down on the edge of the desk in his office, just thinking about what had happened tonight. The emerald eyed sorcerer threw his head back and sighed.

"It been a busy night already, hasn't it?

Alura popped up, carrying two cups of coffee and handed one to Harry.

"Hey, Alura, yeah it was a busy night tonight," Harry offered to her as he stepped back. "We're fixing for an ugly battle."

"You have the book, you could end this right now," Alura whispered to him.

"I don't even know what it does with one hundred percent certainty, I'm trying to decode it," Harry offered to her and the blonde raised an eyebrow. "It could be any number of things, but…."

Harry slapped his palm down on the table and he looked at the computer.

"Just relax Harry, I'm concerned about you," Alura remarked as she wrapped her arms around Harry from behind and pressed her face into the back of his neck. "And I'm kind of upset with you as well."

Harry's eyebrow raised as she continued.

"I heard what you did with Lara, and what you're doing with Kara and Karen," Alura offered as she placed her hands on his hips, and dug her nails into them hard causing him to light out a long hiss as her lips moved to brush against his ear. "But then you're doing it with the Kandorians. Granted, that's a hell of a way to get your powers back and I wouldn't fault them if they wanted a piece of you."

Alura licked her lips, her tongue nearly brushing against the edge of his ear as she did so and Harry's face broke into a knowing smile.

"But, the thing I'm mad about is that you haven't given your poor mother-in-law a taste of what you have to offer," Alura continued as she wrapped her arms around Harry's waist. "I mean, the only person that I ever had relations with was Zor-El, even though it hasn't happened yet and…..well I don't think that I need to tell you about how how unsatisfying it must have been."

Harry smiled as he turned to face her, he'd gotten the message loud and clear. He ran his lingering gaze slowly down her body as he took in her features. She looked the same as Kara did, down the last detail but they were their own person, both with their wonderful attributes and also different faults. Harry reached around Alura's waist and pulled her into him.

"If you wanted to have some fun, all you had to do was ask me, Alura," Harry stated as he reached up underneath her shirt and brushed the underside of her breasts.

Alura whimpered with need as he pulled her into a searing kiss. Their tongues clashed together for dominance as he scooped her up. The Kryptonian woman's legs tightened around him as Harry popped them over to the bedroom.

The blonde's eyes flickered as Harry undid the clasps of her robes and smiled as more and more tantalizing flesh was revealed to him.

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

As their activities concluded, Alura and Kara were both draped over Harry's chest, an arm wrapped around both of them.

"That was amazing," Kara breathed, enjoying the erotic feelings that coursed through her body.

"Yeah it was," Alura offered Harry before he tightened around them.

"Love both of you," Harry commented as he proceeded to pull them in close.

"Love you too," Kara stated as she leaned over and kissed Harry on the lips.

"Likewise," Alura added, kissing him on the lips.

The three drifted off to sleep, content with each other, the bonds of family strengthened in their own unique way.

**To Be Continued in the Arc "Lantern's Light."**


	23. Chapter 23: Lantern's Light Part One

**Chapter Twenty Three: Lantern's Light Part One**

The Shining Light Foundation shined brightly in the early part of the morning. Harry's smile widened as he edged his way through the lower floor of the Foundation to check out how some of the guests were doing .A few new recruits found their way there in the past couple of months and there would be even more to come sooner than later.

He saw Karen there as well and he greeted his third wife with a bright smile on his face.

"Did you add Alura to the fold?" Karen asked to Harry as she watched a female of about sixteen or seventeen years old walk past them. She had dark hair and violet eyes, dressed in a white shirt and tight blue jeans. She was one of the recruits that she brought over from the Galatea Foundation as the two combined their resources.

"Yes, she was eager to be a part of it," Harry commented and Karen smiled.

"Naturally she would be, she looked about ready to jump your bones for a while now," Karen offered Harry with a wide and bright grin as she placed her hands on her hips and kept her eyes firmly locked upon the young man before her. She reached forwards and wrapped her arms around his waist. "Don't worry about our guests, I have everything under control."

"Yeah and I've….I've helped," another voice piped in as Alison stepped forward to join them.

Alison did not say much or even step out into public often. She worked with a lot of the orphans that had been recently been taken in.

"Her powers are rather interesting, able to control the very Earth itself with tremors," Karen remarked to Harry and Alison, both of them responding with nods.

"She did seem to be a bit terrified at first but given she lived in seclusion, that was understandable," Alison commented as she rolled her shoulders. She could relate, she really could to these people who were having more than a few problems fitting in. She remembered how she had been there in the past and the dark haired girl recalled it with frightening clarity.

Karen inclined her head with a nod. "Yes, Atlee is doing rather well. She's made a few impressive strides since she arrived here."

Harry was glad that there was some improvements that were being made by the guests, he really was. He was proud of all of the people who came through the doors of the Shining Light Foundation. As long as they made an honest attempt towards working through the many issues they had before coming through the doors.

"Morning, Dad."

Claire arrived, looking a bit sleepy, and eating a poptart as she crept through the lobby.

"Hey, Claire, how are you this morning?" Harry asked as he moved towards her. "Ready for the big test?"

"Yeah, I studied my brains out," Claire remarked as she barely stifled a yawn.

"Well then we should except nothing less than your best," Karen offered.

"Oh believe me, I don't do anything less than my best," Claire commented as the grin spread over her face. "I really need to get going, I'm going to be late."

"We don't want to mess up with your attendance," Harry remarked as he pulled Claire in a tight hug. She returned it before she spun around and skipped off.

"Well she's full of energy today," Karen remarked as Harry stood on his heels. "So what's on your agenda for today?"

"Well Kara and I have to fly out to Ferris Aircraft this afternoon, we'll be meeting Tess there, there's a big deal going on," Harry informed Karen and the blonde's head inclined with a nod. "But first I need to clear the ice between two people if we're going to get something to work."

Karen's eyebrow raised as she kept her eyes on Harry, before her mouth hung open in disbelief. The blonde's expression watched him before she offered her honest and quite brutal commentary.

"So, you've done some things that might be of questionable sanity recently," Karen remarked in a swift and diplomatic tone of voice as she eyed Harry and the wizard's eyes turned towards her with a smile. He offered her a glance if to say "continue". Karen did "Well, I think that among these things, you wanted to do or have done….this might be the most insane of them."

Harry swiftly nodded and waved his hand towards her. Karen inhaled and exhaled. Then she kept speaking.

"Well, I admire your….ambition I guess for lack of a better term but I still think that you're kind of nuts for trying to see this one through," Karen offered him with a smile and Harry said nothing.

"It's going to work or blow up in our faces."

"Oh, that's the most fun, isn't it?" Karen asked Harry and the emerald eyed wizard inclined his head with a smile.

Rachel popped through the doors at the Shining Light Foundation.

"Morning, Rachel," Harry remarked to her. "Lessons are going to be pushed back a day because of this business meeting I've had but I think you're making progress."

"Your encouragement is appreciated," Rachel commented with a smile in spite of herself tugging across her face.

"I'm glad it is," Harry informed her as he watched Rachel walk off upstairs. In exchange for her gratitude, she was helping out at the Shining Light Foundation, although given the things that Harry had on his plate right now, he needed all the help that he could get.

There was a lengthy pause before the doors opened, and Lana arrived.

"Hey, Harry, you wanted to see me?" Lana asked and it was then where Alicia made her way down the stairs. The woman stopped and paused, as she turned on her heels to watch Lana.

"I thought you wanted to talk to me about something, Harry," Alicia offered as she eyed Lana up and down, as the temperature in the room appeared to drop.

"Well, I actually wanted to see the two of you about something, it appears that given recent events, Clark might need a bit more coverage than Kara and I previously believed," Harry remarked to Lana and she felt a deep sense of dread run through her.

"Why her?" Lana asked as she tried to figure out the logic in this.

Harry smiled but evaded the question quite nicely. "The two of you, I understand that you've had some problems in the past with each other."

"Problems are an understatement," Lana offered in a sullen tone of voice as she closed her eyes. "She tried to kill me."

"Yeah and you accused me of trying to kill you when I was innocent but naturally you jumped to the wrong conclusion," Alicia fired back but Lana eyed her.

"Well, given you doused Clark with Red Kryptonite and tried to force him into a Vegas Marriage under false pretenses…."

"I could talk to you about false pretenses, because if you believe everything the tabloids say, you tricked Lex into marrying you, when you faked being pregnant with his baby because you were after his money," Alicia offered to Lana and her eyes glowed angrily, hinting the first appearance of heat vision.

"It was Lex and Lionel….there was no baby."

"You kept up the charade afterwards, didn't you…."

Harry waved his hand and a loud explosion echoed which caused both of the girls to spin around and stop trying to argue with each other.

"You both did some really stupid shit when you were younger so knock it off," Harry told both Lana and Alicia firmly. Both females fell back into line "Both of you need to work together."

Lana and Alicia both looked at the ground, because it was a fair amount better than looking at each other.

Harry was not done with them yet. "I want the two of you to shake hands and leave the past in the past. You have a responsibility and I'm not going to have any more headaches because you're not on the same page."

There was silence.

"Am I understood?"

Lana and Alicia eyed each other before the blonde stuck out her hand.

"Sorry about everything," Alicia stated as she reached forward and grabbed Lana's hand.

'_Stuck up bitch,' _she thought to herself as she grasped Lana's hand firmly to show her that she was not backing down.

"Yes, we said things that we didn't mean, time to start over," Lana said in a cool and crisp voice.

'_Psychotic tramp,' _she thought to herself as she asserted herself by adding pressure.

"Now, I want the two of you to return to the farm, or do you need someone to escort you back?" Harry asked.

Alicia and Lana had the air of two high school students who had been sent to the Principal's office for getting in a fight over something stupid in the hallway.

"We'll be fine," Lana offered Harry in a small voice and Harry's face contorted into a smile.

"Good, I'll see you later then," Harry remarked to both of the females as they departed.

Karen stood there, watching the entire spectacle as it unfolded. The blonde's blue eyes widened as she turned her head towards Harry, before a slight bit of a smile filled her face. Harry caught the smile and he returned it in kind. He stepped forward and grabbed Karen around the hand.

"You must think I'm crazy," Harry remarked Karen.

Karen shrugged. "Well yes, I think you are, but….you're also dedicated to making things work, even though it's the impossible that you're trying to make work."

Harry smiled that was fair enough. He stepped off to make his rounds, wondering if he was about ready to make a huge mistake. He was going to find out sooner or later. Of course, Lois and Raya should be good enough to mediate Alicia and Lana at the very least. Then they could do….well whatever they did with Clark, Harry did not honestly care what happened behind closed doors as long as anything that Clark did not interfere with his business.

His super enhanced hearing picked up a sound and Harry arched his ear off to one side, before placing a hand to his hip. A smile tugged on the edge of his lips as he heard a lustful moan on the other end of the door. There was a whimper of.

"Oh Harry."

Harry stepped forward and wondered if he should get involved but then he decided not to. The office was the one that Thara claimed for her own. He could tell that Kara's friend was giving him the once over. The wizard stepped forward and placed his head on the doorknob, before he was about ready to turn it.

He paused and stopped. The wizard's expression widened, he wondered if he should take the plunge.

Then again, if Thara was in need of some help, he was all about helping the Kryptonian women.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

Thara had a goofy expression on her face after being drilled by Harry as hard as he possibly could.

"Is that what you expected?" Harry asked and Thara responded with a bright nod.

"Yes, all that and more," Thara stated as she pressed her body into his, feeling the fire spreading through her body.

* * *

Ferris Aircraft was a state of the art facility, with some of the most high tech jets in the Midwest and maybe all throughout the United States. Harry, Tess, and Kara showed up for the meeting on schedule, with Diana standing in the background, in her usual capacity as Harry's bodyguard and M'gann turned up as Harry's personal assistant.

'_Amazing,' Diana thought as she looked at the jets, there was so much of Man's World that she hadn't experienced yet, even though she had been here for almost five months. _

'_It's pretty neat," _M'gann stated as she held the notes that were in her arms. She saw Harry and Kara looking at her gawking at the planes in amusement. M'gann scrambled up as she nearly dropped her papers but she returned herself to an expression of mild dignity. _'Yes, everything's here, don't worry.'_

'_I never worry when you're around, M'gann,' _Harry thought with a smile.

Tess looked up, breaking up this little psychic interplay as she spotted an approaching figure. She was a fairly tall woman with dark black hair and blue eyes. She had a business suit that maintained modesty, but at the same time showcased her feminine figure.

"Carol Ferris, owner of Ferris Aircraft, and you must be Tess Mercer," the woman stated as she reached forward and shook Tess's hand.

"Pleased to meet you Miss Ferris, I'd like to apologize for the unfortunate delays and the bad taste that you must have had left in your mouth by my predecessors," Tess commented as she briefly looked at the contract in her hands. "This will revolutionize air travel, won't it?

"It will, although the people on the board of directors have been breathing down my neck," Carol commented as she put her hands on her thigh.

"That's the problem with those stuffed suits, they never have the patience to get anything done," Harry told Carol and the dark haired woman twisted her expression towards Harry before a smile crossed his face. "I'm Harry Potter, the owner of Shining Light Incorporated and Tess's business partner at Luthorcorp."

"A pleasure to meet you," Carol commented as Harry reached forward to shake her hand which the dark haired woman accepted.

In a brazen action, Harry leaned forward and captured her hand into a light kiss, pressing his lips upon the top of her hand. This caused Carol's eyes to flood over from the pleasurable sensation.

"This is Kara, my wife and the co-owner of Shining Light Incorporated," Harry informed Carol and the woman nodded breathlessly. "This is Diana Prince, my bodyguard and this is Megan Morse, my personal assistant."

"Nice to meet all of you," Carol offered as she was on edge due to this being a business deal that could make her company sink or swim.

Tess picked up on the nervousness straight away. She could tell that there had been some bad business deals that fell through for Ferris aircraft at a time where they did not need for them to fall through. The redhead woman turned her attention towards the woman with a business like tone and expression

"I know you've had reservations about this deal, I would have as well if I had been in your shoes," Tess offered Carol and the dark haired woman's head nodded.

"Yes, I understand, it's just the last deal….well Lex Luthor dicked me around a lot, pardon my French," Carol remarked as she recalled their past dealings with clarity. "He thinks that just because of his last name it entitled him…"

"Lex is worm food and the past," Tess informed Carol as she group walked to their destination. "I believe that you have something to show us that will revolutionize this partnership."

"Yes, like I said, the Board of Directors have been breathing down my neck, I think they've forgotten the name on the company logo is still Ferris."

Tess sympathized, she dealt with some bothersome members of the Board of Directors, well she did until Harry bought them out to shut them up. That was one of the great things that he brought to the company and one of the many great things that he did for her personally, among others.

"I warn you, I haven't had time to have this tested yet," Carol commented to them but it was Diana who turned towards her, a confident expressing striding through her eyes.

"I'm sure that there's no time like the present to test it out," Diana informed Carol and the woman inclined her head with a brief nod, the confident smile crossing her face was infectious.

"I'm sure you're right," Carol offered as she lead the group. "We can talk about the particulars of it in my office, along with a couple of snags that we found in the standard simulators and some things that were not feasible."

"I assumed that would be the case," Harry commented to her before his expression turned with a raised eyebrow. "You can lead the way and explain everything that needs to be explained."

Carol had notes that nearly overflowed from her arms but she managed to grab onto them before they spilled from her arms. The CEO of Ferris Aircraft fixed her expression into a businesslike expression, even though she was distracted by the charismatic young man that she was spending some time in the company of.

'_Easy does it Carol, no need to lose it,' _she thought to herself, it was business as usual so she got down to business, the dark haired woman doing what she did best.

When she hit a certain stride, she could do it better than anyone else.

* * *

"I'm both amazed and impressed, you've put a lot of thought into this," Harry informed Carol as the two of them had a few seconds to themselves as they waited for the maiden test flight to begin. "You've got a first class operation going here, Carol, and don't let anyone tell you any differently."

In spite herself, Carol's face spread into a slight smile as she twisted her head around.

"It's been a rough couple of years," Carol offered as the door opened and Tess entered to join them to watch the test flight. "But I'm ready to get back on the wagon and see what I can do."

Kara filed in behind Tess, with Megan and Diana taking their positions outside the door. The two amused themselves in whatever way they could.

'_Wish I could get up close and watch it,' _Diana thought through the bond link.

'_At least you're closer than we are,' _Lara thought as she frowned. _'I'm at the farm, visiting Clark. He's doing about as well as can be expected although he has his moments of being too close to being like his father for my comfort.'_

'_Alicia and Lana haven't killed each other, have they?' _Harry asked in a worried tone of voice and Lara paused before she smiled.

'_No, they're coexisting, both of them are being overly polite in fact,' _Lara commented, she would be almost amused by the situation to be honest. The woman thought that they would just wait to see what happened.

Harry decided that it was best to hope that this polite ceasefire continued between the two, because he did not think what might happened if it did not. The wizard watched the scene going on outside the windows as Carol placed her hands on the window and looked forward as she adjusted her headset to have constant communication.

"Are we ready to launch?" Carol asked him through the headset, her nerves on edge but she drew in a breath never the less and waited to see what was going to happen next.

"We're ready, Miss Ferris," the man on the headset stated.

The moment of truth was at hand as she waited for the test flight. The plane was here, it was handsome and rather durable as well. Not to mention light weight. She would not be able to say a child should be able to handle it but never the less, it seemed to be something that worked extremely well and was easy to navigate with.

Tess whistled slightly but paused and looked extremely professional. Her head spun around as she watched everything appear around her.

"Okay, okay, let's see what we can do now," Carol remarked as she crossed her fingers and hoped that the plane could maneuver its way through its first hurdle.

Carol placed her hands on the side of her face and brought in a deep breath before letting it out. She brought in a few more breaths before she placed a hand on her heart and watched the humming of the jet as it approached. The woman's eyes closed shut as she watched the plane fly through the air.

So far, so good, it gained the necessary acceleration at any rate. Carol placed her hands back onto the window as she watched it.

"Thanks to the camera inside the plane, we'll be able to follow its progress," Carol informed Tess, Harry, and Kara and all of them nodded but it was Kara who stood up straight.

Kara's eyes blinked as she turned her head around, and noticed there was a glowing orb that flew through the air right next to the plane.

'_What is it Kara?' _Harry asked to her.

Kara's eyes followed its progress numbly but Carol saw it as well. Her eyes widened as she continued to track the progress.

"Get out of there," Carol told her pilot in a frantic tone of voice over the headset as she pushed forwards against the window, biting down on her lip nervously. Her face flushed with the frustration that came with the pod that was about ready to crash into her plane.

There was a moment of complete silence and then there was an explosion that rang out through the air. Carol heard it and winced, this was not going to be good. She bolted out of the room as quickly as she could. It was amazing how fast a determined woman could go, even without having super powers. Her steps quickened, faster and faster.

'_Oh my god, oh my god,' _Carol chanted mentally to herself as she scrambled towards the door, nearly tripping over her feet but she somehow managed to readjust her footing as she made her way to the doors.

She pushed her way outside as she could only barely hear Harry and Kara behind her.

The ship crashed but thankfully her plane was out of harm's way.

Carol's eyes widened as she realized what she was thinking about, it was a ship. An alien space vessel, that had crashed landed onto her property. The woman scrambled towards the crash.

There was a man on the ground, at least Carol assumed that he was a man but never the less, he was writhing in agonizing pain. The dark haired woman reached forward as her hands trembled. She stood over the man, blinking, unable to completely comprehend what was going on before her.

"Um, hello," Carol remarked as she tried to use her foot to stir him back alive but the man twitched underneath her foot.

"Take it," the man breathed as he held out a glowing green ring for her to snatch.

"Okay, what I am…"

Carol, by some reflex, snatched the glowing green ring in her hand. There was a flash of green light that erupted around her.

'_Harry….you know what's happening, don't you?' _Kara thought to Harry as the two of them flew towards the light.

'_Yeah, I know what's going on, just go for it,' _Harry informed Kara through the mental link, as the trio was engulfed in the light that transported them off.

Carol dropped down, dressed in a green outfit with a lantern symbol on her chest. She spun around as her black hair flowed in the breeze and her mouth opened, numb shock filled her eyes. There was a second where she tried to hold her head up.

"Welcome, Carol Ferris, newest Green Lantern of Sector 2814."

Carol's expression turned towards them, these people. Her eyes widened and a dumbstruck look appeared on her face before she placed a hand on the top of her head. She muttered underneath her breath a few times before she snapped her head up.

"I think….I really think there's been a mistake."

Carol was about ready to respond to that extent.

"The Green Lantern energy ring does not make mistakes, you wouldn't be allowed that ring if you were unworthy of it."

Harry and Kara showed up immediately after those words were said and the eyes of the Guardians widened before they bowed their heads respectfully. There was a time where everything paused before the two of them stood next to each other.

"We have been blessed by the afterlife's chosen," one of the Guardians remarked in an awed tone.

Kara and Harry were amused and also alarmed by this turn of events. It was obvious that they were known the universe over but this might have been a bit much.

'_We're famous,' _Kara thought to Harry.

'_Yeah, it's fleeting,' _Harry told her mentally as he turned his head around and wondered what was going to happen now.

* * *

"Well, I might as well give this Green Lantern thing a whirl," Carol offered before she closed her eyes and something struck her as she walked with Harry and Kara. "Any idea why the two of you were caught in the light?"

Harry shrugged his shoulders, there were any number of explanations but Kara offered what he thought the best one was.

"Luck,' Kara offered as she shrugged her shoulders, the blonde spinning her head around and looking over her shoulder.

"Yes, that'd be about right," Carol agreed as she placed her hand on her hips and thought about what she had to do now.

It was crazy but she was from the world of business, so she was used to craziness happening fairly often. The dark haired woman twisted her expression around into a prominent, but slightly forced, smile and thought about the events that occurred around her. The business world was extremely cutthroat and now she was in the middle of something extremely insane.

"They must have be nuts to think that I'm the only person for this job," Carol offered them but never the less she stood up straight. A proud expression spread over her face before she placed a set of hands on the wall before leaning back against it. "Well I better give it my best shot, what do I have to lose?"

Kara opened her mouth but Harry cocked his eyes towards her, a warning expression flickered on his face. He was not about to go there, he grabbed the blonde firmly around the hand and she sank down onto a chair.

"Yeah, I appreciate you not answering that question," Carol remarked as she saw the desolate planet. "I don't even know why you two are sticking around, you should find a way back home."

Harry decided to let the dark haired woman in on the secret to why he decided to stick around for the show. The emerald eyes danced with a thoughtful expression.

"That Lantern going down where he did, it feels rather dodgy, I overheard something that you might not want to hear," Harry whispered to Carol and the woman raised an eyebrow as the two of them walked over until they were out of earshot. "There have been seven Lanterns in seven different sectors killed within the last three months."

Carol whistled at this thought before she offered her own statement towards Harry, her shoulders shifting. "If that's a coincidence I'll eat the Lantern."

Exactly, they're dropping like flies, given that the Lanterns are a galactic peace keeping organization, someone has their mind set on whacking them left and right," Harry offered Carol and the dark haired woman inclined her head as she thought about it. A hand cupped to her chin but Harry was far from finished speaking. "The ring could have reached anyone there at that air base but you got to it first. Which you wouldn't have done if you did not have certain qualities."

"A strong will power, but that's something that you have in spades."

Harry raised an eyebrow towards her.

"Sorry, it's just I read your story, can't blame me for doing a little due diligence, all of the things that you have to put up with, well it would cause many people to crack," Carol offered to Harry. The dark haired woman shifted on her feet before she added. "The ring came towards the base when you were…"

"No, Carol, the ring chose you."

It was at this motion and these words where Harry peered into her eyes and Carol felt shivers down her spine. She felt like he stared into her soul. Tacky and corny as it might have been that was the truth of the matter. She kept her expression fixed on him as time ticked by. It seemed like an eternity passed between them.

"Why do I have a feeling that the ring might regret it?" Carol asked she closed her eyes. "I just wish I can figure out how to get the stupid thing working half of the time. All I can do is energy blasts, and they aren't….well they aren't that focused."

The dark haired woman felt her statement finished quite lamely, at least that's what she figured. She twisted her expression towards Harry, an apologetic expression dancing through her eyes but Harry looked extremely thoughtful towards her.

"I don't know if I like the look in your eyes or not," Carol offered, having just met Harry a couple days ago and spent that time hanging out with him on this planet, waiting for her training to commence. She felt she knew a few things about him but at the same time, she knew absolutely nothing at all.

Harry looked extremely thoughtful before he explained where his thought process was going.

"You're good at visualizing," Harry informed her and Carol inclined her head with a nod before Harry continued to explain. "Then take those skills and apply them to the ring."

Carol's eyes widened before she turned towards Harry and an expressive eyebrow raised for a brief instant. She crossed her arms together and decided to lift up the hand with the ring on it. Harry grabbed his hands around her waist and held her into place, gently pressing up against her to get her adjusted properly.

She flinched for a brief second; this was the most personal contact that she ever had with a man, in an extremely long time. The wizard turned her waist around and held her arm up, with the ring held up in the air.

"Okay, visualize," Harry told her.

"Okay, visualize," Carol agreed as the ring began to hum to life.

She created a boxing glove from the ring. It lacked a bit of structure at first, but as she concentrated, she first created it and then controlled its trajectory.

She created a trampoline with her ring as well and then she created a swing. The woman's face contorted into a smile as she figured more and more out about the ring as she gained more confidence with it. It was a matter of piecing it together but when she got it, she really got it.

There was a sound behind her, clapping, slow and supple. A purple skinned man dressed in a lantern uniform with dark hair and a goatee stepped forward.

"Impressive," the man commented as he slowly stepped towards them. "Most impressive."

"Thanks but Harry gave me the heads up," Carol admitted to the man as she inclined her head towards him.

"Mister Potter," the man commented, before he turned his head off to the side. "We may have to borrow you to train the new recruits on a more regular basis."

"I wish I could help but when could I find the time?" Harry asked the individual before him. "So you know me but…"

"Sinestro," the man commented to Harry as he offered his hand for a shake and Harry took it, tentatively.

'_Oooh, that's a name that inspires trust,' _Chloe thought dryly through the bond link.

'_Yes but we can't jump to conclusions,' _Harry thought back to her but he did not keep his eyes off of Sinestro.

The man motioned for Harry to follow him and Harry did as he was asked. The wizard's expression flickered stronger yet.

"There is someone who is taking out the Lanterns and I want to find out why," he informed Harry before he twisted his head around and the wizard watched him. "I will be undertaking the training of Ms. Ferris, but you and your counterpart…I wish for you to do me a favor and keep an eye out for any suspicious signs."

'_More suspicious than a guy called Sinestro showing up?' _Chloe asked through the bond link.

'_We don't know this guy is on the level or not,' _Diana offered to them.

'_Well if he wanted us to trust him, then he shouldn't have a name like that,' _Chloe persisted stubbornly.

'_She does have a point,' _Rachel agreed as there were more mutterings through them.

Harry turned his attention away from the peanut gallery towards the man before him. The wizard's expression turned with a smile crossing his face. He placed a hand on the side of his face.

"I'll do that," Harry offered to him and Sinestro nodded his head, a smile crossing his face.

"Excellent," Sinestro stated before he prepared for his training with Carol.

* * *

Harry and Kara sat atop of a tower structure. Kara was dressed in a blue tank top with black shorts with no shoes. She smiled at the thought of having a few moments amongst all of the insanity.

"It does feel nice to be up here together," Kara remarked to Harry and the wizard's expression did not waver from his perch.

"It is," he agreed with her as he turned his head around and cupped a hand underneath his chin as he stretched.

There was a great degree of silence that existed but there was also a sense of some kind of calm before the storm. There was a feeling that something was about to break, the question was what was going to happen? The wizard's expression arched forward as he heard something but discounted it at least for now.

"I'm glad that after everything that's happened we can have some time to unwind just the two of us," Kara commented as she leaned into Harry and the wizard wrapped his arm around his Alpha, pulling her into him, feeling her body pressed against his shoulder.

Harry was more than glad for this point as well, the hectic last few months weighed on his mind more often than not. Everything with the Kandorians was especially a hallowing experience as Zod appeared to go underground after the incident in Gotham. Exactly what he was up to, well Harry did not pretend to have special insight into the psyche of the man.

All Harry knew was that Zod was playing an extremely elaborate game of chess, although he might be barking up the wrong tree if he tried to outgambit Harry. The wizard's expression twisted around as he watched the progress of the unique star system. It was always nice to sit outside and see the stars.

"I saw a bit of the training," Kara commented to Harry and Harry's eyes turned towards the blonde. "Poor Carol she's going to be sore."

If the situation was not so serious, Kara would be almost amused by it. The blonde pressed a hand up to her cheek and she turned her head around. She swayed her legs as they sat several hundred feet above the ground.

Mischief danced within Kara's eyes as she pulled Harry into her.

"These will be the times which we will think about for a very long time," Harry remarked to Kara, as he pulled himself into her tighter.

The two sat on the pedestal cheek by cheek and then they turned towards each other. Their arms wrapped around each other and blue eyes met green eyes. It was an extremely long time since they experienced something as deep and meaningful as this. He placed his hand on the small of the blonde's back and pulled her into his tender embrace.

Their lips met in a searing kiss and it was pure intensity beyond everything that they had ever seen.

Kara and Harry's super powerful hearing kicked in for a little bit as they turned their heads around and heard the sounds of a motor running. That was the most perculiar thing.

So was the voice that spoke over them.

"No man escapes the Manhunters."

Harry was confused but he saw a group of robots advance forwards. The blonde stood on her heels as well, arching her neck as she watched the approaching robots.

"Robots, the Manhunters," Kara told him as she turned towards Harry.

"Weren't they decommissioned?" Harry asked the blond beside him and Kara shrugged her shoulders.

"That's what I thought," Harry offered her.

There was another loud explosion that rang out through their ears and Kara and Harry, wondered if they were close to tapping into this mystery.

There was only one thing for them to do and that was to investigate this Manhunter thing.

* * *

The purple skinned figure watched from afar, Green Lanterns dropped like flies but his revenge would be even greater than that.

He would build up anticipation in their minds before squashing them like puppets.

Nothing escaped his notice, the notice of Despero.

**To Be Continued in Part Two. **


	24. Chapter 24: Lantern's Light Part Two

**Chapter Twenty Four: Lantern's Light Part Two.**

Kara and Harry spotted them almost immediately, there were a few seconds where they watched them. The blonde turned her head over towards Harry before one thought rattled through the back of her mind as they prepared for their attack.

'_I could have sworn that these guys were shut down,' _Kara thought to Harry through the mental link and there was a moment where Harry paused as he cupped a hand on his chin.

'_Yeah, you and I both, Kara,' _Harry informed her, they had heard that the Manhunters existed prior to the Green Lantern Corps.

The problem with robots of any kind was that there were instances where they deviated from their programming. And if they deviated from their programming, they were going to do things that would be considered logical to them. Even though that logic was not among the most sound thing in the world. The blonde's eyes kept straight forward towards the Manhunters.

Were Harry and Kara going to let the Manhunters roll into town and cause all kinds of havoc?

Not in a million years.

The blonde and dark haired Heralds of Death dove from their position. It was beginning to become clear to the both of them exactly who was behind the entire Manhunter mess to begin with. Kara's lips curled into a frustrated scowl as she stared down her adversaries as there was one sentence that passed through her ears.

"No man escapes the Manhunters."

It was short, simple, and to the point but Kara blasted her enemy with ruthless aggression. Heat vision was an extremely valuable tool at this point or any other point, the fact of the matter is that it could nail an opponent quickly, and with great force. She took advantage of that ability to fry her enemies. The blonde rocked her enemy with a series of punches as Harry moved around to scout out the situation on the other side.

"Right behind you, Kara!"

Harry blasted one of the Manhunters off balance. They were extremely dangerous robots but the problem for them was that magic did not mesh well with electronics. Whoever was responsible for their creation didn't even think to shield them against magical attacks. Which allowed for Harry's attacks to be particularly effective.

"No man…."

There was an explosion as Kara nailed her enemy with a full on rocket buster of a punch sending it hurtling downwards. The Kryptonian blonde was not in a mood to deal with these tin toys, not in the slightest. Her arms crossed as a frown appeared on her face before she kicked off and smacked into her adversaries.

"And that's how we do things," Kara remarked.

'_Don't get too cocky, honey,' _Harry told her but the two of them locked hands never the less to prepare their next tandem assault.

Both of them picked up a heavy amount of momentum as they created a huge whirlwind. The two of them linked together was enough to send an explosive shock wave outwards which knocked their opponents for a loop. The blonde Kryptonian and the dark haired Herald of Death sprang back and landed on the terrain out of harm's way.

Kaboom!

That was one of the most amazing sounds in the world and one that echoed out for all to hear. The blonde smiled as the shattered remains of several destroyed Manhunters rained down around them.

'_Surely the Lantern corps will be finding out about this before too long,' _Harry thought to her and the blonde turned towards Harry.

'_You've got to be fucking kidding me,' _Kara thought as she heard even more of them show up. _'I didn't think that there were….'_

'_Someone's mass producing them,' _Harry thought back to Kara who grimaced.

That was a piece of news that made her cringe. Who would mass produce these killing machines? Actually a lot of people in the universe would, but she thought that her point held ground. The two of them tried to maneuver their way forward, but they ran into a brick wall.

Thankfully by hook or by crook there was plenty of help on the way, in the form of the other members of the Green Lantern Corps.

They were of different alien races, different shapes, different sizes, and different varieties, but they were all united in one purpose. To protect all sentient life throughout the universe from any, and all threats. There were several blasts.

A chainsaw appeared from one of the Green Lanterns and sliced through one of the Manhunters. There were sparks that flew through every single direction as the chainsaw tore through him. There was a loud explosion that echoed out as more of the Manhunters were destroyed.

"Have at some of this!"

There was a rocket launcher that caused an explosion to resound around them. The Green Lanterns were firing towards their enemies in great volleys as fast as they could. More explosions, more shots, and there were another round of attacks.

Kara smiled as she shot forward like a ping pong ball. She bounced off of the Manhunters one by one by one, ripping through them with brutality and intensity. She ripped out one of the power cores and made sure to keep it on her.

'_Harry, head's up,' _Kara stated as Harry stood on the palm of her hand and she launched it up towards the Manhunters.

Once again there was another sinister explosion that resounded and Harry fired a hole through the Manhunters.

No man might have escaped the Manhunters but Harry was doing a good job in making sure that the Manhunters did not stomp them into the ground.

"Alright, and have some of this!"

There was one thing that Harry could not fault the various members of the Green Lantern Corps for and that was their ability to keep cool under fire. Not to mention come up with some creativity that would allow them to seize the moment. More explosive attacks resounded as the Manhunters were destroyed around them.

The smell of burning metal parts staggered both Harry and Kara.

'_And they're retreating,' _Kara thought to Harry but the wizard's hand wrapped around hers.

'_Or they're going back for reinforcements,' _Harry thought back to her before he swayed in the air. He placed a tracker on them, so he could get a sense where they were going, if there was any rhyme or reason for their movements. _'Well we'll find out one way or another.'_

'_Yes,' _Kara agreed, biting down on her tongue and once again, they were confident that they would get to the bottom of this.

* * *

The Guardians of Oa were none too pleased at the events that transpired on this day and they let their chosen champions know it. Several angry blue faces stared down at the assembled group of Green Lanterns.

"This is one of the most disgraceful acts that the entire Corps has ever seen," one of the guardians stated in a harsh voice, which left no room for any argument. It was obvious that they thought that the Corps were to blame for this little event and there was no way, no how, that they were shouldering the blame.

"But the Manhunters…."

"They were deactivated decades ago, obviously whoever is behind this, they're trying to stir up a panic," one of the guardians stated as his eyes practically bugged out as he faced the assembled group. "Most of the shells we found were very rudimentary which means…."

"Which means the real person who was behind this; they're trying to distract you from an attack using the Manhunters as a decoy."

This statement came from Carol, bold and brazen, but given that this was her first day, being bold was not about to make her any friends on the Guardians. All of them could not believe the nerve of this woman who spoke out of turn before them.

"You will mind your tongue around us."

This statement only lacked one word and that was "woman." Or rather rookie, as Carol reminded herself that there was other members of the Green Lantern Corps around her that were of the female variety.

"Hey, I'm just telling you how things are,'" Carol protested, although she felt like she might have been barking up the wrong tree. There were many sets of eyes that were locked onto her. "You can't stand there, and tell me…"

"Enough," Sinestro commented before he turned to face the Guardians. "Despite her sharp tongue and attempt to navigate around protocol, 2814 does have a point. The Manhunters being brought forwards could be a diversion but for what?"

"I think I might have an answer."

That answer passed through the mouth of Harry as he turned up and walked towards the Guardians of Oa. They respectfully backed off and inclined their heads. Kara stood beside him, a smile threatening to cross her face.

'_It seems one of the responsibilities of the Herald of Death is to command great respect,' _Kara informed Harry and the wizard's smile grew deeper.

'_It does seem that way,' _Harry commented to Kara before he turned towards them.

All eyes passed over him as the Guardians bowed their heads.

"I've managed to slip a tracking charm on them but the coordinates….well I'm sure that the Guardians could make much more out of these than I ever could, so have a look at these if you want to."

Harry threw up the coordinates that he translated. They blipped over towards them and several eyes widened as the Guardians of Oa kept their eyes on them.

He waited to see if they could figure out what they indicated. The wizard's eyes followed theirs.

'_Do you see the recognition,' _Kara thought to Harry and the wizard nodded. _'Yeah they know that there's something there, they know of the location.'_

The guardians whispered to each other in hushed tones. A few of the senior Green Lanterns, including Sinestro, watched them, but it seemed like they understood the coordinates just as well as the Guardians did. There were a few rounds of whispering back and forth before one of the guardians turned to face the assembled group once more.

The tension could be cut with a knife and indeed one could hear a pin drop from these words.

"We know what's going on, we've never thought that we'd see these coordinates again," one of the guardians stated.

There was a feeling that the Guardians were trying to figure out how much to tell their Green Lanterns. Their eyes twisted around and they appeared to be speaking silently to each other.

Kara craned her ear before she heard one word that spoke out with clarity. "Despero."

Exactly who Despero was, well they didn't know.

'_We better figure out what we're dealing with,' _Harry thought to Kara with the wizard grabbing her hands. _'If the lifeline reader is going to play ball with us this time, it hasn't as of late.'_

Kara smiled before she projected through the mental link. _'Cross our fingers, hope for the best, and let's see if we can it to work right for once.'_

'_Here goes nothing,' _Harry thought as he closed his eyes before he bit his mouth down and asked the one question. _'Who is Despero?'_

'_Despero is one of the top ten fugitives in the known galaxies and an enemy of the Green Lantern corps,' _the Lifeline Reader stated. _'Whilst he is not an undesirable, he should be treated with caution and any contact with him should be perceived as a threat that must be dealt with.'_

'_Well that was crisp and clear,' _Kara thought as a picture flashed through her minds eye.

"I don't think that we should be given the run around," Carol commented as she stood up on her feet. "Communication, it's a key part of getting things done, and if several of our fellow Lanterns have been taken down, we really do have a right to know."

Once again her statement was extremely brazen and Carol turned her head towards them. The guardians watched her and they were taken completely aback by her words. Few people called them out on their actions and especially a Lantern from a minor sector like 2814.

"Again brazen as she is, she does have a point," Sinestro stated but his warning glare turned towards Carol. He was obviously about ready to tell her to be quiet and to stand down or suffer some kind of consequences. "If he has returned from the dead, then we must take the steps to make sure he does not spill any more blood."

A Green Lantern ring flew through the top of the meeting chamber and landed to the ground.

"And that's what happens when a Green Lantern has been killed and a ring does not find anyone worthy," Sinestro stated as his eyes locked upon the ring on the ground. There was a somber tone that went through his voice.

The Guardians muttered to each other and there was a long time before they said anything.

Before they could make a decision, the decision was made for the Guardians whole sale.

The Manhunters were here and Despero was not far behind. It was going to be do or die for them.

Already Harry and Kara slipped ahead; they knew what they had to do.

* * *

The eyes of Despero glowed with more malice than anyone would have thought possible. The Kalanorian was out for one thing and that was the blood of every single member of the Green Lanterns corps. He had been taken down, nearly destroyed, once before but he survived. He stood tall, if there was anything that was true, he enjoyed a challenge and breaking one of the primer peace keeping forces into the entire universe, that was a challenge worthy of his greatness.

"Let the games begin."

Despero stepped towards the edge of the outpost. He stood on Oa, the house of lies that the Guardians built. They tried to take people like him down, who tried to change their status quo. The Guardians and their pet Lanterns, they were all about sticking to a firm and heavy status quo, without any imagination whatsoever. It weighed heavily on the mind of Despero and he twisted his attention forward.

"So they wish to incur my wrath, then so be it," Despero commented in a harsh tone of voice as energy crackled around him. He pushed himself forward, trying to pick up even more of a stride. It was a stride that no one was going to break, no matter what. "I know you're up there, in your house of lies, Lanterns. It's time for you to stop delaying the inevitable."

There was no sound and Despero figured that would be the case. There was one set of words that passed his lips and that echoed out with a great amount of disdain.

"Cowards."

That word once again resounded through him and he crossed his arms, waiting for the end to reach him. Despero had his little mechanical puppets ready to carrying out his bidding.

A blur shot out at him suddenly, before he could even react. It was a rocket buster of a punch that connected with the Kalanorian face, rocking him back a few inches. The blonde above him pulled back with a smirk crossing her face as she stared him down.

"I believe I've got you now," Kara informed Despero with an ear to ear grin spreading across her face.

Despero's eyes widened before Harry and Kara exchanged a knowing look.

'_Wait for it, wait for it,' _Harry told Kara.

"YOU DARE TOUCH ME!"

'_Right on schedule,' _Kara thought as she locked hands with her husband and both of them pushed themselves back before they slammed themselves into their enemy with a bone rattling force.

Despero staggered back, their combined energy attack proved to be a positively potent combination in backing off the criminal. He slid off to one side and then off to the other side, as he held up his hand.

An energy field shot from him and held Harry and Kara in place. His mental attack was strong but the combined might of the two main Heralds of Death were extremely potent as well. The two of them pushed back hard with an energy attack of there own causing the two fields to connect, and creating a stalemate.

It was a like a pendulum swinging back and forth, back and forth. Both sides tried to hold themselves steady as the two opposing energy attacks pushed hard against each other. Their mental battle got even more intense. The blonde's expression got rather intense as her teeth gritted as Kara pushed her enemy back with help from Harry. And said enemy pushed them back as well. There was a back and forth struggle, where the two sides jockeyed for position.

'_Got to focus,' _Harry thought as he heard the roar in the distance.

The Manhunters had been sent ahead by Despero to do his diabolical deeds but the Lanterns were making quick work of them. The eyes of Despero flooded with rage and he pushed forwards. He swung his arm towards Harry and Kara.

A shield erected around Harry and Despero's blow collided with it. The explosion of the impact of his fist drilling the shield could be heard and Kara slid behind Despero, before she flipped into the air. Both feet slammed into the back of Despero's head and she staggered him forwards. She punched at him a few more times and the series of attacks ripped through his defenses. He whirled to grab her around the head and this left Despero open for another attack.

Harry hammered Despero in the side and sent him flying head over heels. There was an explosion as Despero connected hard with a nearby wall, causing him to drop to one knee. Moving quickly Harry grabbed him around the head, and then with another fluid motion he slammed the Kalanorian's head into the ground.

There was a moment where Despero was staggered but he refused to give up. The villain was relentless and he pushed himself up to attack once more.

Despero moved forwards to renew his assault on Harry and Kara and the two of them conjured energy scythes in response. He was not an undesirable but they could still hurt him. The two Heralds of Death struck him with the energy constructs.

A blood curdling scream echoed forth from his mouth and he stumbled backwards with his arms swinging wildly. He tried to escape the attacks but he was put down hard onto his back.

"You can't defeat me…."

A set of Lantern shackles wrapped around Despero suddenly and he tried desperately to break free. Carol moved in, her eyes narrowed.

"You think that you can defeat me?" Despero remarked as he tried to push himself out.

"Maybe not, but I can keep you in place until someone else does," Carol stated as she placed him inside a Lantern cage. He tried to push out of the cage but his arms clanged against the edge of the bars.

"When I get out of here…."

Harry and Kara blasted him hard against the back of the cage. Despero roared out in agony at their attack, and harnessing his rage pushed hard once more against the construct bars. His unrelenting hatred giving him the strength to finally tear himself free as it shattered into green light around him. The three of them circled around each other once more.

'_Just got to….I think I've pinpointed a weakness,' _Kara thought to him and Harry wrapped an arm around her.

'_Well if you have it, we should do it then,' _Harry projected through to her in the mental link. The two Heralds of Death turned their heads around and aimed back for the heavens before they swung towards him.

A double team punch, enhanced with their powers, directly into his middle eye sent him flying backwards.

Chain around the ankle, chain around the other ankle, chain around the wrist, chain around the other wrist snapped around him. A chain wrapped tightly around his neck and a box surrounded him.

At least eight or nine different members of the Green Lanterns corps tried to push him into a box. Despite all of that, his eyes twitched together and he looked at them with blazing anger.

"You can't stop me," Despero taunted them as he tried to break from the box but the Manhunters shut down, what was left of them at least.

Harry's smile got even wider before he kept his eyes on his enemy. "You were saying."

His teeth gritted together in a loud growl before he pushed his shoulder against the wall. There was a loud smash, smash, smash. Despero was trapped in the box and would not be escaping any time soon.

* * *

"I know, worst hero ever."

Carol offered that statement to Harry as his eyes watched her. Green eyes met her blue eyes as the two of them stood side by side with each other.

Harry waved off that thought. "I wouldn't say that, we've all had our moments that weren't our best. The end result is what counts."

Carol's lips curled into a slight smile before she turned slowly to Harry to try and gauge some kind of reaction. "So did you?"

Harry smiled back at her before he told her in a completely honest manner. "Every single day of my life it seems. Although I've improved a little bit."

Harry turned his head back before he continued his statement.

"Time is the greatest teacher," Harry informed her as he placed a hand on her shoulder and her head inclined with a brief nod, the smile across her face growing even wider as time passed by.

"It's taught me a lot," Carol commented before she sank down for a moment. She knew better than anyone else that things could turn around for the worst in a heartbeat. The dark haired woman waited for everything to keep moving forward. "If running a business has taught me one thing, it's taught me that patience is a virtue."

She experimented with the Green Lantern ring, as she used it to create a series of shapes. She did not want to admit so out loud but this might have been an amazing thing to play around with. It was always amazing to see the visions inside her head coming to life, as anyone in any creative endeavor would tell her.

"Despero is being locked up in an even tighter prison than last time and the Manhunters will hopefully go to sleep for another couple hundred years," Harry informed her.

Carol's expression turned into a dry smile. "Or longer."

"Or longer," Harry agreed with her, he did hope that they never had to deal with them again. "After that blip in your training, you're back in the saddle."

Carol's expression widened with a smile before she placed a hand on the side of her face and let out a long and poignant sigh.

"Yeah that's pretty much it, back in the saddle and back to the training," Carol remarked as she spun around to the side and peered out the window onto the planet. "I got enough of a taste of it but I'm amazed that taste wasn't enough to prepare me for what's next."

"Somehow I don't think so, either," Harry informed her as he placed his hand on hers but she did not retract from the contract. "I think that you're going to do great."

Carol offered him a joking smile. "Well, now I have to do great, because you've put the Harry Potter stamp of approval on me. And from what I've heard, you don't put your wagon behind a loser."

Harry smiled before he continued in a completely serious tone of voice. "I wouldn't put my faith in you, if I didn't have a reason to do so."

"Makes sense, I guess," Carol offered him as she checked her watch. "So when are you clearing out of here?"

"In a little bit, a few days maybe, I've got plenty of people that can pick up the slack," Harry informed Carol. "So, I'm not too stressed about being absent."

Carol Ferris nodded, she was another person who had a great team of people who could manage her business interests if she had to take a sabbatical. Even if it was a sabbatical that was as unexpected as this one, she still had them in place. It didn't keep her from taking every step to try and micro-manage the company that she ran, but that was just how she did things. It was just the way she operated her company.

"I guess you and I have a lot in common, we have people that we could trust," Carol commented to him and Harry smiled back at her.

"Trust is important, and I'm sure an amazing woman like yourself can do some great things," Harry told her.

Carol's smile flickered across her face, Harry did have a way of making a woman feel special, it was one of his special talents and one that he should not trade away for anything. She kept her eyes fixed onto his, green meeting blue once again.

"I better go," Carol informed him and Harry nodded. "I wouldn't want to be late."

"I'll be here for a while if you need anything," Harry told her and Carol's head inclined with a nod.

"Believe me, if it's possible, I'll take you up on that offer," Carol commented as she added as an afterthought. "It wouldn't be wise to squander a potential resource, especially if he's giving himself to me now."

"Oh, is that what I'm doing?" Harry asked.

Carol shook her head in amusement. "You know what I meant."

She stepped forward for a few seconds and considered something but catching sight of the time indicated that she was running quite behind schedule.

"Talk to you later, Harry," Carol informed him with a smile.

"Yeah, Carol, talk to you later," Harry commented to her.

She threw her arms around him with a tight hug, an action that surprised Harry.

To be honest, it was an action that surprised Carol as well. She was looking for an excuse to press her body against Harry's, her curvy body pressed against his rock hard muscles.

"Well, see you later, don't be a stranger, and all that," Carol remarked as she pulled away from Harry, but the wizard's expression contorted into a very prominent grin.

"Believe me, after all that, a stranger is the last thing that I want to be with you," Harry told her and Carol heard him.

'_Well, you work fast, Harry,' _Zatanna commented through the bond link. _'Then again, what girl could resist your magic?'_

'_No one in their right mind,' _Chloe thought as she smiled. _'Unless they were already taken and even then….it'd be a tough sell.'_

'_Well you know what they say, all your bitches belong to Harry Potter,' _Karen thought to them through the bond link.

Lara chortled in amusement. _'Is that your company slogan?'_

'_You know it might be,' _Harry commented to them as Kara showed up.

Kara smiled at Harry and Harry knew what she was smiling about.

"I figured it wouldn't be long with her," Kara remarked as she placed her hand on Harry's chest. "If you don't tap that before we get out of here and return to Earth, I'd say that you're losing your touch."

Harry's face spread into a wide grin as he kept his eyes locked onto Kara's. "Believe me, love, I haven't lost my touch at all."

Harry snaked an arm around her waist and pulled Kara in close to him. "Believe me, I haven't lost my touch at all."

Kara's face contorted into a grin. "I know you haven't."

He was an Alpha Male and Kara was his Alpha Female, which made her all the more powerful the more women that he placed underneath his thumb. That thought made the blonde smile slightly. His lips met hers in a deep and searing kiss.

* * *

A few days later, almost a week really and Carol dropped down in her bunker, after the grueling training that the Green Lantern corps delivered. She turned her expression around and winced.

"Yeah, I miss meetings with stockholders already," Carol commented to herself more than anyone else. "And those could get extremely rough."

Carol stripped off her uniform, before she sat on a bench with a tank top that stretched around her upper body and a dark pair of shorts. The newest Green Lantern was feeling the rigors of a brutal regimen of training.

"Well yeah they could, but there's nothing more rewarding than that."

Carol's eyes turned towards Harry who stood there with his arms crossed and his eyes locked onto hers. The dark haired woman's smile widened as she faced Harry. The two gazed into each other eyes with an extreme intensity before she sighed.

"I thought you'd be clearing out by now, given that you have a lot on your plate," Carol commented to Harry as the green eyed sorcerer stepped towards her.

"Yeah, I'm doing so tomorrow, but I'm always a few seconds away, if you need anything," Harry remarked to her and Carol smiled at him.

"A girl could get ideas if you keep talking like that," Carol stated but she winced as she moved her neck a bit roughly. "Yeah, I've really been dinged out there. Basic training….I can only imagine what the advanced stuff is like."

"The ring is only half the battle," Harry commented to her as she sank down. "It's a lot of what's up here that wins the battle."

For emphasis, Harry tapped the top of his head and Carol's expression flickered into a smile as she sat down.

"I know, but that's about the only part of me that doesn't hurt," Carol remarked as she looked over her shoulder towards him. "It wouldn't be too much trouble if you could do something for me."

Harry smiled. "Sure, name it, always enough to help a beautiful woman."

Carol flushed for a second; it had been a while since she had allowed a man into her heart. All of her personal interactions were strictly business for the past six or seven years, if not longer.

"Well with a compliment like that, I shouldn't ask too much of you but what the hell, you're here, you've offered," Carol stated as she shifted herself a little bit, turning over her shoulder. "Do you think it might be any trouble if you could give me a neck message?"

Harry smiled before he placed his hands on the back of her neck and started to stroke her.

"No problem," Harry commented as he worked a pattern on the knots of her neck. His hands worked circular motion around the back of her neck as she ran up and down her, working out the kinks that she had. He leaned forward and whispered into her ear, his hot breath hitting it. "How's that?"

"Feels good," Carol breathed as she felt his hands work their magic against the back of her neck

"Well my wives have told me that I've had magic hands," Harry remarked as he continued to work out the pressure in the back of her neck.

Carol's eyebrows corked up before she asked the question. "Wives, you say?"

Harry knew that one was not going to be unsaid so he decided to elaborate to her. "I come from a culture where….well marriages to more than one woman are accepted."

Carol nodded, that made sense, there were a lot of mysterious things about Harry. The dark haired woman felt his hands work wonderful patterns around the back of her neck. She sighed rather briskly as he continued to work over her with magical hands. The woman's eyes flushed over.

"I need to get better access," Harry whispered in her ear as he pressed his forehead to the back of her neck. "Do you mind if I…"

"No take my shirt off, it's fine, I've got nothing to be ashamed of," Carol remarked boldly.

She felt herself grow aroused at the thought of being in such an intimate setting with Harry with her shirt off. It had been a couple of weeks but she really was falling for him in the worst way.

Her shirt was pulled over her head. Harry saw her creamy back, with her breasts increased in a black bra. It was lacy and he smiled as he worked a circular pattern around her upper back, which caused the area between her legs to tingle.

"Are you okay?" Harry asked Carol, practically whispering in her ear.

"Yes, I'm fucking great," Carol told him as she bit down on her lip and Harry worked into her back.

She got up for a second and slipped her shorts off to reveal a lacy black thong. She got on her hands and knees on the bed before Harry.

"Do you think you can get the back of legs?" Carol asked him as she stared over her shoulder, lust dripped from her expression.

"I think that I could oblige you," Harry commented to her as his magical hands worked the back of her leg muscles. "Let me know if I'm hurting you."

_'Oh believe me, soon you might…ah hurt me, but in a good way,' _Carol thought to herself, it had been a long time since she had gotten some and the training had made her extremely horny. His talented hands working over the back of her legs, well it was an amazing feeling to say the very least. The dark haired woman felt his hands continue to work a pattern against her. She closed her eyes tight and lost herself in the feeling of him working her over.

Harry felt her soft flesh underneath his hands and took a chance, brushing his fingers down her lower butt checks that poked from underneath her panties.

"Oh, that's it, Harry," Carol told him as his hands worked her lower back as she laid facedown. Subconsciously, she presented herself for him.

Carol Ferris burned through an amazing amount of lust as the pheromones were flying through the air and Harry's hands continued to work over her tight body. The black haired woman felt his fingers probe her skin and she wondered what other things he could do to her.

Harry smiled, her moans were getting even more sensual and he was just giving her a massage, he could hardly believe that. His pants tightened.

Carol's expression turned towards him, peering over her shoulder. She was giving him a rather sensual set of bedroom eyes. Seduction dripped from her voice.

"So is that for me?" Carol asked as she shamelessly stared at his boner.

Harry spoke back in a voice that an equal amount of no shame. "Yeah, that's for you alright, this is all your fault?"

"Oh is it now?" Carol asked in a teasing tone of voice. "Figures, always blame the woman."

"Well, your crime is being too sexy for your own good," Harry commented as she spun around to face him.

"Aw, would you like me to do something about it, baby?" Carol asked as she puckered her lips and Harry stared back at her with a wide smile across his face.

"Yes, I'd like you to do something about it," Harry informed her and Carol's smile got wider.

She reached forward and unbuckled Harry's pants.

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

Harry tucked her into bed before kissing her on the lips.

"See you real soon Carol," Harry breathed as he turned around to depart.

* * *

Tension was order of the day on the Kent Farm and there were two young females who were extremely tense with each other. Lana and Alicia stared each other down for a few seconds and sipped on the coffee that had been poured. Raya watched as a third party, waiting for the dam to break.

Lois and Clark were at the Planet, following up on some big story. If they needed help, they were just a mind link call away. Never the less, the tensions continued to escalate as Lana and Alicia stared each other down, the coffee being drank.

Lana decided to break the ice with a cool and casual question. "So how's the coffee?"

Alicia answered in a crisp manner. "It's hot."

"That's good, but be careful, I wouldn't want you to burn yourself," Lana offered Alicia.

Alicia's eyes narrowed but she said nothing, she was not going to allow Lana's attitude to get underneath her skin. She had a job to do.

"Thanks for your concern, but I'm always careful," Alicia commented before she sipped her cup. "I hope I didn't wear out Clark too much for you. I would hate to think that you'd need to step up your game on my account."

"Don't worry, I'm more than capable of satisfying Clark," Lana remarked as she kept her eyes on Alicia.

'_Yes, although you do have to coax him into doing anything,' _Alicia thought to herself. _'Then again, who wouldn't want Lex Luthor's sloppy seconds?"_

Lana's lips curled into a slight smile as she narrowed her burning eyes at Alicia.

'_Yeah, I'm sure you've had plenty of experience, although the only way you can keep Clark's interest is if you drug him,' _Lana thought to herself bitterly.

'_Harry must be insane if he thinks that she can protect Clark if he was in real danger,' _Alicia thought to herself. _'Providing she doesn't stab him in the back and run off with someone. Oh I'm sure it's for his own good. It wouldn't be the first time that bitch did something like that.'_

'_Harry must be insane if he thinks she's a worthy protector for Clark,' _Lana thought to herself. _'Providing she doesn't go insane with jealous rage and try to kill someone. Wouldn't be the first time that bitch did that."_

'_What was Harry thinking?' _Alicia thought to herself.

'_What was Harry thinking?' _Lana thought to herself.

Alicia's eyes turned towards Lana's, with a faux sweet smile on her face. Lana returned fire with a faux sweet smile of her own.

"Just thinking," Alicia commented to the unasked question.

Unexpectedly, Lana's eyes flashed over and she grew rigid. Then she spoke out loud.

"I need your help."

Alicia was taken aback by this question. Why would Lana need her help?

Although there was another question that she needed answered as well. When did Lana pick up a thick Boston accent?

"I need your help to solve my murder," Lana continued in her newly acquired accent.

Raya's eyes widened before she noticed that someone possessed Lana. The question was who and why.

"Who are you?" she demanded.

"My name is Boston Brand, seven years ago, I was murdered, and I need their help to solve the crime," Lana commented to Raya and Alicia.

This looked like a job for the Heralds of Death.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter "Possessed."**


	25. Chapter 25: Possessed Part One

**Chapter Twenty Five: Possessed Part One. **

Business moved along at a brisk pace as usual as Harry and Kara returned from their trip from the other side of the galaxy. Both of them took their time as they arrived back to the Luthorcorp facility.

"So….we knew that we were having this wrap up meeting with Tess when we got back, I'm sure she wants to know about what we were up to," Kara informed Harry and the emerald eyed sorcerer responded with a brief nod.

"Hey, Harry, Kara."

Diana turned up to meet them outside of the LuthorCorp, but she was not the only one who went into town. Standing next to her was a young Amazon about seventeen years old or so, although she looked like she was in her early twenties. She had dark black hair, along with a black top, and tight black pants that stretched over her ass.

"Hey, Diana, Donna," Harry remarked before he turned his attention to young Donna Troy, with a smile crossing his face. "Didn't expect to see you pop up this soon."

Donna crossed her arms with a smile of her own. "Yes, mother decided that I was due for a trip off of the island and I'm going to take advantage of the chance for freedom."

"Donna has a chance to experience education on Man's World, and I hope that she will take her studies seriously," Diana commented before she placed her hands on her hips and surveyed her sister.

Donna rolled her eyes towards the direction of her older sister before she sighed.

"Sometimes, it's like I have two mothers, I swear, Diana, you're such a wet blanket sometimes," Donna commented but there was a smile on her face despite this.

"Mother would skin us both alive if she found out that you had been goofing off and not taking advantage of a unique cultural opportunity," Diana commented before she eyed Donna and the dark haired Amazon's head inclined slightly as she smiled, in spite of the situation. She had to agree that was true. "But your classes start today, I'm going to take you off to meet Doctor Sandsmark right now. Her daughter is in the class, she's around your age, so you should have someone that can help you out find your way around if you get lost."

Donna rolled her eyes and placed her hands on the side of her face. It was almost like Diana thought that she was stumbling around and walking into walls for half of her life. The raven haired Amazon princess allowed her sister to take her by the hand.

You sure you can handle things? I'm going to see Donna off," Diana asked Harry and Kara.

Kara nodded as she watched them step away. "No problem, no problem at all, just do what you have to do. Harry and I will still be here when you get back. Besides, I can handle kicking the ass of anyone who messes with Harry."

"Fair enough," Diana commented with a smile barely passing her face.

"Bye, Donna, have fun," Kara commented to her.

"Yeah, see you later," Harry remarked but Donna stopped and smiled.

"Oh, I will be seeing you later, remember I turn eighteen in three weeks," Donna told Harry with a grin and with that statement Diana gave her sister a reprimanding look.

Kara smiled with a knowing expression that danced through her eyes as she folded her arms over and eyed Harry.

'_Boy, isn't she the epitome of subtly,' _Kara thought to Harry as there was a few seconds before they turned around and made their way inside for the meeting..

Indy was sitting in her office working on something quietly. Her head arched up as she saw Harry and Kara turn up and a smile bloomed across her face.

"Miss Mercer is waiting for you in her third floor office," Indy informed them as Kara and Harry smiled at her.

"Thanks, Indy, you're one of a kind," Harry remarked and the young tech girl smirked slightly.

Indy returned to her work and faced away from Harry and Kara, leaving them to make their way up to the elevator.

"I wonder what Tess wanted to talk to us about now," Harry commented as he added with a careful smile. "If talking is all she wants to do, that is."

As they reached the office door the emerald eyed wizard raised a hand and began to knock quietly.

Before long, the elevator made it to the floor of the Luthorcorp facility that Tess's office was on. Harry and Kara made their way from the elevator as they floated down the hallway.

As they reached the office door the emerald eyed wizard raised a hand and began to knock quietly.

"Come in," Tess told him in an encouraging tone of voice and sure enough Harry opened the door to allow himself entry.

Harry opened the door and saw Tess sitting on the edge of her desk. She was wearing a black jacket along with a green blouse that matched Harry's eyes. The short skirt was enough to show her legs but enough to maintain some semblance of modesty. The stockings that covered her legs ended just a bit below her upper thigh and her shoes dangled from her feet as she shifted herself on the edge of her desk, a knowing smile flickering on her face.

As Tess shifted, Harry watched her with a smile as he saw a hint of the lacy green panties that she wore.

"The last two weeks, I'm sure they were interesting," Tess commented as she invited Harry and Kara to sit down. "As you know….our deal with Wayne is reaching the final stages. And despite the slight hiccup, our deal with Ferris is also a go."

"Two big deals, a big profit," Kara commented with a wide smile. "This quarter is looking to be a profitable one."

"Yes for Luthorcorp and Shining Light Incorporated," Tess agreed as she was in a pretty good mood. She was optimistic that their combined empire would grow. "I'm looking forward to seeing how much we can do in the future."

"Hopefully that's going to keep the shareholders off of our backs," Harry commented as he reached toward and Tess took the hand of her bonded.

"If they only understood what we're doing, changing the world, one step at a time," Tess commented, a wide grin crossing her face as she thought about everything. "The Kandorians…well I think that many of them are loyal to you or at least not blindly following Zod."

"I think that this has been an entirely productive quarter all things considered," Harry commented to Tess and the redhead fixed her expression on him as her bright eyes grew brighter.

"I know it has been, which means it's time for a celebration," Tess remarked as Harry got up as he placed his hands down to rest upon her stocking clad legs and looked at her with a simmering gaze.

"Celebration, so what do you have in mind, Miss Mercer?" Harry asked her and Tess smiled back at him.

"I think we both know," Tess commented as she kicked her shoes off to reveal her stocking clad feet. She placed the ball of her heel on the crotch of his pants and began to rub him up and down with the bottom of her foot, in slow and sensual circles.

Harry smiled as he placed his hands on her thighs and leaned forward. With another swift motion he pressed his lips onto hers with a searing kiss that deepened as their lust grew. His hand worked its way up her skirt and started to fiddle with her.

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

Indy laid on the desk, as her eyes flushed over from the sensations that she was feeling and Harry smiled at how she looked after he was done with her.

"I think we crashed her brain," Kara commented with a smile and Harry laughed at this statement.

* * *

As Harry and Kara returned to the Shining Light Foundation they spotted Claire standing there, waiting for them in the front lobby.

"Mom, Dad, you're back!" Claire stated in an excited voice as she stepped forward and joined them. The redhead pryokinetic smiled at her parents.

"Hey, Claire, sorry….sorry that we were gone so long," Kara remarked.

Claire waved her hand, it showed her maturity that she was able to shrug things off to this extent. Then again, being thirteen years old, she was not prone to getting upset about her parents long absences like when she was ten. Like most teenagers, while she did love her parents, she would like her space.

"It's alright, you've….you have things to do," Claire commented in a bright tone of voice with a wide grin passing over her face. "So….how are you doing?"

"We're doing fine, we're doing more than fine," Harry remarked to her and Claire smiled back at him as she stood up straighter.

"That's good," Claire offered but she did not want to think too much about the exploits that her parents might have gotten up to. "It must be interesting to go halfway across the universe."

Kara smiled at her daughter. "Well we met some interesting people."

Claire nodded, she would have to agree about that. Chloe turned up at the lobby, as Claire smiled and waved as she scurried off in the other direction. The smaller blonde turned towards Kara and Harry before she addressed them properly.

"So, how was Oa?" Chloe asked to Harry and Kara.

"It was fun," Harry told Chloe as the three walked forward to make their rounds. "And it's nice to be able to be gone for almost two weeks and find out world hasn't fallen apart in your absence."

Chloe nodded before she quickened her strides down the hallway.

"The Kandorians….well they've been quiet, although a good chunk of the army has switched their allegiances," Chloe remarked as she paused and smiled. "In other words, they are deciding to kneel before Harry Potter, as opposed to kneel before Zod."

Kara and Harry exchange a knowing smile.

"They wouldn't all happen to be female, would they?" Kara asked, with a triumphant smirk across her face.

"Yes, they would be," Chloe agreed as she opened the door leading into the top secret research area that only a few people knew about. "And that leaves all of the men to kneel before Zod."

Chloe stopped before she started to laugh.

"You know, that sounded a lot cleaner in my head," Chloe commented to him and Harry's face widened into a smile.

"Most things like that do," Harry told her as he turned his attention to another matter and saw the scanner that was active before him.

The Book of RAO was underneath the scanner and it was slow going as he started the scan before he left. However, a smile crossed his face as he saw that it only had less than one percent to go.

"We'll finally be able to figure out what it does," Kara commented as she locked her eyes onto it.

"I've been wondering as well."

Alura popped up and Kara spun around to greet her mother with a smile. She hugged Kara in response and then she moved around, to give Harry a tight hug as well. Then she leaned forward and pressed her lips on the lips of her bonded.

"And Harry gets a better greeting than I do," Kara commented with a pout that crossed her lips and Alura turned towards her with a smile.

"My apologies," Alura commented before she wrapped her arms around her daughter and gave her a smoldering, not to mention long kiss on the lips.

Kara and Alura exchanged a passionate greeting as Harry watched them, as did Chloe.

"Well…."

"No take your time," Harry commented as he watched them make out rather lustfully but a ding brought his attention back down to business.

The Shining Light Foundation computer popped up a number of holographic screens each relying a series of formulaic calculations, flashing in green light. Harry's eyes flickered back, and forth as he studied the calculations. Alura, Kara, and Chloe all watched it as well before the smallest blonde broke the silence.

"Well, that's interesting," Chloe remarked as she read over the formula. "If I'm reading this right….this thing sends the Kandorians off of the planet."

"I'm even more interested now," Harry commented as he narrowed his eyes at the glowing formula. He scanned through it again once more in order to be perfectly certain about his calculations. "It was designated to send them to a populated planet on the far reaches of the universe, something that humanity does not know exists, a kind of New Krypton."

Kara read the formula as well but Alura picked up something that neither of the other three had noticed.

"This formula, it doesn't just send all the clones off the planet, it sends everyone of Kryptonian descent off of the planet," Alura commented to them and that made things rather intriguing.

'_Harry, there's a bit of a problem, if you're not busy,' _Raya thought through the link and Harry stood up.

'_What did Clark do now?' _Harry asked her, tension reigning through his voice.

'_Not Clark this time, it's Lana,' _Raya stated as she thought it was prudent to elaborate. _'She's starting to claim that she's someone named Boston Brand.'_

'_Hold tight,' _Harry thought to her.

Harry, Kara, and Chloe locked hands.

'_Karen where are you?' _Kara thought to her older counterpart through the bond link.

'_I'm on the other side of the world,' _Karen thought as she decided to inform them about what she was up to. _'I'm following up on an undesirable report.'_

'_Okay, fair enough, join us when we can, we've got something…interesting,' _Harry thought as they popped over to the Kent Farm.

Alicia was quick to let them in as they appeared outside the door.

"At first I thought Lana went nuts but I'm not sure," Alicia commented as Lana turned towards Harry and Kara, before a relieved smile spread across her face.

"No, I'm just borrowing her body, she seemed to be the easiest one to possess," Lana commented as she turned to Harry and Kara and look of relief fluttered through her eyes. "And it's about time you two showed up, I swear that you guys should have a Facebook page or something."

Harry was not going to lie, hearing a thick Boston accent coming out of Lana Lang's mouth was something that amused him greatly.

"Just who are you anyway?" Harry asked as he placed a hand on his hip.

"Right, right, always been bad at introductions, oh Harry the Herald," Lana commented. "Ya see, my name was Boston Brand, although I ain't much of anything anymore on the account of being dead."

She smirked a very un-Lana like smirk that was quite frankly unsettling to Harry.

"They used to call me Deadman at the circus, fitting but I was without fear until my rope broke and I landed with a splat, messy thing, didn't have any super powers until after I died," Lana commented. "Ain't gonna lie, it was a shock where I was sent back to solve my own murder."

"So that's why you're here," Harry commented to Boston Brand.

"Not entirely, the powers that be, they gave me an errand to tell you that….well things are going to get screwed up pretty nicely," Lana stated as her hand cupped her chin as she thought. "The powers that be….you know them."

"Yes," Harry commented dryly.

"Well they're in the process of choosing the new person to be Death, any day now," Lana commented.

'_More like any eternity now, as long as it's taken,' _Karen thought through the bond link. _'Right outside of Metropolis, I'll be there….FUCK!'_

'_Karen what is it?' _Kara thought.

"And they're here to tell you that some Ghoul guy is going to steal a mystic set of scrolls that will break the seal of his mortality and make him immortal, thus forever upsetting the balance," Lana commented. "Pretty freaky stuff, it's a good thing that I'm dead."

Harry felt a sense of foreboding wash over him but as it turned out, things were just about to get far worse.

'_Well, I've run into our old friends the League of Shadows,' _Karen thought and then she added as an afterthought_. 'And Lois and Clark got sucked into it...of course they would. And they're after something big, the League of Shadows that is, not Lois and Clark.'_

Harry thought in a dry voice before he offered her one final statement. _'It wouldn't happen to be a set of scrolls.'_

'_Yes, how did you….' _Karen thought before she trailed off. _'Oh I get it.'_

'_Stick tight,' _Harry thought and Kara followed him as they sped off.

* * *

It was an unconfirmed fact that Clark Kent's middle name was in fact "trouble magnet." At least that's was the theory that was running through Lois's mind presently. The fact of the matter was the reporter could not believe that Clark had stumbled into it once more.

Of course, considering her own luck, and her own ability to get into trouble Lois was the last person in the world who should be talking about people getting other people into trouble but her point still stood firmly. So she really wasn't that shocked to find herself in the thick of it once again. The dark haired reporter was determined to make a lasting impression.

'_Ninjas, it would have to be ninjas, and it would have to be these ninjas,' _Lois thought as she used her X-Ray vision to peer through the wall to get a better look of what she was up against.

By some miracle, Clark did not rush head on into trouble straight away without scoping out his surroundings first. That was a point that Lois thanked her lucky stars for since time and time again since around the time she'd first met him in fact, Clark more or less ran headlong into trouble with no concern for his own safety, or that of the people around him. The brunette woman considered that could be what was wrong with him, Clark had no sense of his own safety.

Of course once again Lois was one to talk.

"Clark, Smallville, I know…." Lois started as she trailed off and saw Clark slip off into the next room.

'_Learn to keep your big trap shut next time, Lane,' _Lois thought to herself as she prepared to do damage control if Clark did something exceedingly stupid.

The ninjas surrounded Lois but she super sped out of the way and confused them.

Clark meanwhile had one of them hung out over a rail as she made her way up the steps.

"What are you doing here?" Clark demanded as he dangled the ninja and acted as if he was going to drop him.

"The great Ra's Al Ghul will not approve of this interference, Star Child," the ninja stated as he bit down on a capsule in his teeth and he slid out of Clark's grip.

His body was limp and he was dead before he hit the floor.

Lois dodged the sword that tried to impale her. She super sped around her opponent and reflected her heat vision off two of the swords, so when they bounced off of each other. The shattering of super-heated metal echoed and the dark haired woman rushed them.

There was a large individual who grabbed Lois from behind and threw her back. Clark tried to attack him but he was outgunned as well and tossed through a nearby wall.

Clark was pissed, as he pulled himself up, these guys again, he could have sworn that they had enough the last time around.

The blonde blur that showed up knocked one of the Assassins in the mouth. The large assassin was cut down like a big redwood tree.

Harry was into the battle as quick as he could move. He cycled around his enemies and picked up a heavy pace. His magic bound the enemies and caused them to topple as they were piled up immediately.

'_You know these guys are really getting long in the tooth,' _Harry thought as he dodged the mystic blade that was thrown at him. _'And they're packing some magical artifacts, so be careful.'_

'_I'm always careful,' _Kara protested as she dodged the throwing stars and used her heat vision to fire them back at her enemy.

Raya popped up and sent her enemies flying backwards with a concussive punch and they flew back against the wall. She locked eyes with Karen with a smile and three Kryptonian blondes locked onto them with heat vision.

The heat vision caused several boards to weaken and a large piece of scaffolding to drop on their assassins. Kara was boosted into the air but suddenly smoke filled in the air and it caused the blonde to stagger around.

"Again, should have seen that one coming," Lois managed as Lana showed up there. "Well you're late."

"Hey, hey, I'm not going to take any lip like that from a dame," Lana commented in a Bostonian drawl.

Lois's eyes snapped over towards Lana in a surprised expression.

"Well are we just going to just stand there and twiddle or are we going to get these guys?" Lana asked and Lois's confusion heightened along with Clark's.

Lois turned to Harry and there was only one word that she had to him. "Explain."

"Why do I always have to be the one to explain?" Harry protested and Lois placed her hands on her side before staring back at him.

"Because, you're the one who always has a good idea why the insanity we have to deal with happens," Lois remarked and Harry turned towards her, opening his mouth before snapping it shut.

"Point well taken," Harry commented before he finally got over his shock. "Okay, Lana is possessed by a dead circus acrobat that is trying to solve his own murder and he's also being used as messenger pigeon by the powers that be."

Lois blinked and her mouth hung open agap. "O-kay."

"You don't believe me, do you?" Harry asked her and Lois shook her head.

"No I believe you it's just….wow, just….yeah," Lois remarked, she had nothing more to say other than that.

"Yes, Lois, that is indeed, wow," Harry commented as he placed a hand on his hips before he peered out. "Also, we're going….well our old friend Ra's Al Ghul is at it again."

"Impossible, I saw him die," Clark commented and Kara turned towards him.

Words failed her but only for a second.

"Don't be naïve, Kal."

"Yeah, Smallville, don't be naïve," Lois repeated as it hit her that the ninjas vanished. "Well they did the go ninja, go ninja, go thing, and boogied on out the door."

Harry shook his head.

"Lois, you ought to know by now that I can pinpoint the general area their in with the right tracking spells," Harry remarked as he turned his head around, before a smile crossed over his face as he realized it. "They won't get far."

That was one point that Harry was willing to promise to the end of time, he was going to get to the scrolls, wherever they were, before Ra's did. Although these scrolls of vague mystical properties always served to be more trouble than they were worth. The emerald eyed sorcerer lead the way.

The three Heralds of Death lead the charge.

"Don't worry, when I'm done, you'll have Miss Lang back," Lana remarked with a grin passing her face, as if trying to reassure Clark.

"We better," Clark offered, he was not in the mood to deal with something like this.

* * *

Talia looked over the map that her men recovered or at least half of one. She turned to the members of the League of Shadows, all of them who inclined their heads and watched her.

"I'm very disappointed in you all," Talia remarked to them in a brisk voice, in a tone that left no room whatsoever to any kind of argument. She was not too happy with the performance, as it was not one of their crowning moments. "You had one mission and you blew it. My father will displeased with your performance."

Cheshire watched briskly in the shadows, picking her spots.

"It seems like the time of the great Ra's Al Ghul might be at an end," one of the assassins stated, speaking up.

"You will mind your tongue or I will remove it," Talia stated sharply as she glared at them. "The final piece of the puzzle is in Gotham City, if we find that, we find the scrolls."

They traveled for several hours but they were used to taking unconventional paths to get what they needed to get done, done. There was an echoing sound that resounded around them. The dark haired woman pressed her ear to the edge of the door.

"What if we run into Batman?" Cheshire asked Talia in a calm voice.

"If we run into him, then we'll deal with him," Talia commented curtly as she kept walking, eyes focused forwards.

"The rumors are that the two of you have a past," Cheshire commented in a swift voice and Talia's eyes turned towards the younger girl.

"Jade, the past is just that, in the past, don't forget that," Talia informed her and Cheshire bowed her head towards her superior. "You take this team and scout the area ahead; I'll double back with the rest."

"It will be done," Cheshire stated as she placed her hand on her chin.

The assassins pushed themselves forward and made their way nervously up from the basement along a winding set of staircases. They moved through several sets of sewers as quick as their legs allowed them.

The assassins pushed themselves forward and walked forward nervously up from the basement to a winding set of staircases. They moved through several sets of sewers as quick as their legs could follow them.

"Yeah that was kind of predictable, wasn't it?"

Kara crossed her arms and Cheshire's face twisted into a grimace beneath her mask and she cracked her fists.

"Take her down," Cheshire stated, she was sick and tired of this one.

Kara dodged the attacks of one of the ninjas that rushed forwards and the blonde flowed around a second assailant. She grabbed one of the assassins by their head, and hurled him at the other. Both ninjas went flying as they smacked into each other.

"Okay, mark this down, I'm over these guys," Lois remarked as she drove two of them into a wall at super-speed but then a dart impacted into the back of her neck. The woman was surprised that this affected her.

Harry blocked a dagger and caused it to levitate in a circular motion so could analyze it carefully taking everything about it's make into account.

"They've treated these things with the modified Kryptonian, which means the Kandorians are supplying them with something," Harry remarked as Clark rushed in and knocked one of the assassins back against the wall.

Clark peered over his shoulder to get a better look at everything and dodged the sword that was stabbed towards him.

"Figure you'd need some back up," Alicia commented as she closed her eyes.

Clark felt a sense of dread coming through him, last time Alicia was….

Any thought was interrupted as Alicia teleported out of the way just as two assassins tried to stab her from either side and thus they stabbed each other.

Clark raised his eyebrow but then he shook his head in order to clear his thoughts. Any doubts that he had about Alicia's capabilities were all gone.

The truth was Harry had been working with Alicia on how to better utilize her powers in an offensive manner and she was going to take these lessons to heart. The teleporter popped to one side and took out even more enemies with swift precision.

She was really mowing her way through the minions and she could hardly wait to take on more.

"You know, we really need to stop meeting like this," Cheshire informed Harry dryly as she ducked and rolled, dodging his attack. The two circled each other and she threw a knife at him but Harry transfigured it into a rubber chicken. "People are starting to talk."

Cheshire pulled out two daggers and flung them towards Harry. With a flick of his wrist, he turned them into paper airplanes and they harmlessly fly around him on the breeze in Clark's direction.

"Wait for it," Cheshire commented as she clicked the detonator in her glove.

The explosion caused green dust to billow out into the air and Clark spun away from it, his eyes watering. Harry waved his hand, causing the dust to disappear before he too was effected.

Clark's eyes were swollen.

"I thought that we had this stupid problem fixed," Clark offered as he swung his arms around erratically in the air.

One of the Assassins tried to take him down but a swooping figure popped in. With a swift motion, the assassin was taken out and put out of the fight.

More crept towards their enemies but a pair of baterangs flew into the battle.

"You should know by now that no cure is foolproof," Batman remarked as he flung an ice pellet at one of the larger assassins.

"Figures I'd get something like that from Mister Sunshine and Roses over there," Clark offered but Lois staggered around as Kara administered something to her.

"Don't worry, I have an antidote if you get infected, although it doesn't stop further infection if you get hit again," Kara informed them.

"Right that's good," Lois offered, she felt as good as new as she hoisted her head up.

Batman swung around and engaged the League of Assassin's in battle. His punches knocked them around, from one side to the other. The World's Greatest Detective continued to push himself to the peak of his performance and wrapped his grapnel around them.

He sprung forwards to continue the fight, but he was knocked down hard from behind.

"We meet again, Batman," Bane offered but this time, the tubes feeding him were better protected them they were last time.

"Bane," Batman offered as he pushed himself up, but threw a flash bang and that caused Bane's vision to become impaired.

He rubbed his eyes, screaming out in frustration as the World's Greatest Detective shuffled back for a brief moment and circled around him. The Dark Knight pummeled Bane with punch after punch, rocking him.

Bane grabbed Batman.

The assassins dropped down with a series of super powerful punches and Clark sped forward, before saving Batman from being broken.

"Put me down, I had him," Batman offered and sure enough, Bane grabbed Clark around the throat.

"You're persistent," Bane offered as he throttled Clark and began to choke him into unconsciousness but just as Kara was going to swoop in to save Clark, an arrow was shot into the battle.

The arrow stuck in Bane's tube and electrified him. The monstrous mountain of a man staggered back as his eyes rolled into the back of his head but he shook off the assault.

Kara rocked him back with a huge kick before Harry flicked his wrist and unplugged the tube.

Bane screamed as he lost his lifeline to his precious stream of venom. He staggered around, breathing rather heavily as his heart thumped against his chest hard, in a thunderous drumbeat.

The assassins were taken down by a barrage of arrows that fired into their chests. Shot after shot connected with them and once again something activated an electrified pulse that stunned them.

They collapsed to the ground with a loud crash in every increasing numbers as the volley of shoots continued to rain into their ranks.

Harry watched as a figure dressed in green appeared and kept firing the arrows at them. He was too busy to really follow up on this for now.

"Retreat," Cheshire remarked as she saw the person in the shadows and she rushed off.

"Well, looks like Oliver is on the ball tonight," Lois remarked but then she paused as she got a better look. "Wait a minute….that's not Oliver!"

There were a few fundamental differences about this archer. The archer was blonde and dressed in green like Oliver Queen, but the big difference was that this archer was a female.

Harry, Kara, and Karen saw that she escaped but they wondered what her connection was and why Cheshire told the Assassins to stand down after she showed up.

* * *

"The technology is in my grasp."

That statement was given, crisp and cold by Major Dru-Zod as he sat in the underground bunker with the Kandorian army or the remnants of them. His plans had not come to fruition over the past few months.

It all started out well, his plans continued to escalate, at least until the moment where he brought Harry Potter in. He thought that Potter was no trouble at all, a foolish child with ideals, hopes, and dreams.

Zod could not even begin to fathom how much he was mistaken.

"They are gone," Zod remarked as he leaned back on the chair and kept his expression rather cold and frigid. He could not believe that they disappeared.

Many of his supposed loyal soldiers disappeared into the night without a trace. The Kandorian placed a hand to his chin as he pondered this, it all started after he invited Harry Potter into his confidence and Potter was rather callous.

Potter stabbed Zod in the back, offering the ultimate betrayal and that was not something that the Major could forgive. As young as he was, he already saw much, much about the brutality that his fellow people could perform on each other.

He would not forgive this and he would not forget. There was technology that could be in his grasp, all he had to do was grab onto it.

"Get ready, the League of Shadows have no idea what they've stumbled upon now," Zod commented to two of his guards who nodded. "While they are chasing fables, I'm after science and I'm after something that will help us with our plans to take control of our birthright."

"Many have left you, Major Zod," one of the men stated bravely.

For a second the man thought that he spoken too far out of turn for Zod rose to his feet and faced the man, an intense gaze flickering through his eyes. The Major closed upon this young soldier who swallowed the lump that was present in his throat.

"They have betrayed me yes, but they will pay for that," Zod offered as his glare became really nasty. It did cut him. Betrayal was not something that he took well.

Betrayal was not something that he would forgive.

They would all suffer for their treason.

"I will find the one who exposed us to Ra's Al Ghul and make them pay," Zod commented as he turned to all of the Kandorians. "My brothers, I do hope that the traitor is not brazen enough to look me in the eye and think that they can get away with what they've done. No, they will not….they will not be able to get away with such an action."

Zod was given them the opportunity to confess to their crimes and he watched them, the nerves shot through the minds of all of them. He could almost feel them.

"If you refuse to confess now, then the end will be more drawn out and undesirable later," Zod offered them.

There was no words, which made Zod either think that the person who betrayed him was a fool and still dared to look him in the eye or had been among those who betrayers that fled.

"Perhaps it was the son of Jor-El," one of the soldiers stated bravely.

"Yes, Jor-El betrayed us, why wouldn't his spawn by any different?"

Zod smiled, they were fools. "Kal-El does not have the stomach for betrayal."

There were no more words other than that from Zod, he said his piece and now it was time for him to move on and forward for the final part of his siege.

All would kneel before Zod.

* * *

Alexandra Potter waited as she heard word that there were two parties after the same set of scrolls but for two entirely different reasons. And as always, her male counterpart was in the center of the chaos. She would curse his luck, had she not known better. The dark haired witch's face spread into a wide and expressive grin as she turned towards the group that walked behind her.

"Is it time yet?" a young blonde stated, with blue eyes. Her name was Astoria Greengrass and her eyes locked onto Alex's.

"It's nearing that time where what has been laid down within the covenant will come to pass," Alex commented in a cryptic voice.

"This Covenant…." Hermione started but Alex turned towards her with a look that told her to not speak of this out loud. "I know, I know."

"We thought it to be a myth for all of those years," Daphne remarked as she placed her hands on her hips and a smile crossed over her face.

"Myths, there is nothing but truth within these myths and our agent who went under deep cover knows that Zod is making his move," a fourth figure stated in the shadows. "Do not overestimate this situation, if Zod and Ra's Al Ghul go to war, it will not be a pleasant outcome."

"I know," Alex offered, there was not a statement that was more direct and to the point. Her hands placed on her "It would be a foolish hope to assume that they would do our work for us and take the other out. And I'm not going to be that idealistic."

Alex refused to be drawn by this foolish thought.

"So we wait," Daphne offered.

"Yes, we wait," Alex remarked before she turned to Hermione. "You know what your mission is."

"Yes," Hermione offered, although she was not too pleased with what she had to do. That was the perils of having drawn the short straw.

"What if they grab the scrolls before we do?" another voice asked from the shadows.

"They won't."

Clara turned up or rather she had been there the entire time. Standing next to her was Alison Riddle and the two of them stepped forward.

"Harry will reach the scrolls first, he's got all of the pieces, even though he hasn't put them together," Alison offered before she paused and added. "And he knows what the Book of RAO does."

"So why doesn't he do it and banish Zod and his army?" Astoria asked in frustration. "He has the power."

"Harry Potter always is one with a flair for the dramatics," Daphne offered, rolling her eyes, although there was an expression of fondness crossing through her face.

"He does," Hermione agreed, she was not going to disagree with this point at all but she worried about what might happen next.

Alex knew that Harry knew it as well, if he used the Book of RAO, he would banish much more than those who came out of the orb to a new world. She wondered if he delayed because he was trying to find a way to salvage what could not salvaged.

"All of the players are in position."

Tonks turned up now to join the rest of the group, to join Hermione, Daphne, Astoria, Alison, Clara, Alex, and the two mysterious hooded females that did not seem inclined to reveal themselves for the world to see.

"The Sisterhood is ready, let's save the world," Alex remarked in a firm voice.

**To Be Continued in Part Two.**


	26. Chapter 26: Possessed Part Two

**Chapter Twenty Six: Possessed Part Two.**

"Okay, I'll bite, who was our mysterious female archer girl?"

Lois was the one that said this statement but Harry turned to her with a smile.

"First of all, female archer girl would be a bit redundant, don't you think?" Harry asked her and Lois leaned against the wall as she offered him a frustrated sigh. She hated when Harry had a point, which was often. "And secondly, I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?" Raya asked and Harry turned to her with a smile.

"I mean exactly what you think I mean and that is I don't know," Harry offered to her, and to be honest, it was weird. He normally could piece these things together quite quickly but for some reason, this entire situation had him baffled. "She's a new player in the game."

He turned to Batman. If there was anyone around who could piece together the gaps, it was the World's Greatest Detective.

"No, I have no idea who she is," Batman offered and Kara offered an astonished gasp.

"Both Arcane and Batman not knowing who someone is….surely the world is about to come undone," Kara remarked in a teasing tone of voice, both directed towards her husband and Batman. Harry offered her a mock glare but Kara simply smiled back at him, widely and brightly. "I mean….we could have slapped a tracking charm on her."

"Kind of hard to do that when we could barely see her," Karen suggested and Kara nodded to concede the point.

"Right, right, of course," Kara said but she used her X-Ray vision to try and figure out if she could find anything, a trace, a clue, anything, that would point her in the right direction towards archer girl.

The blonde squinted her eyes and tried to focus, with Harry, Karen, and Clark helping out as they could.

"Here," Karen told them as Harry levitated the piece of arrow. "I don't know how much a piece of arrow is going to tell us about her but hey it's more than we had before."

Harry agreed, this was far more than they had before and now they had enough to work on for something that remotely passed as a lead. His green eyes flashed as he started to consider the possibilities of what he had to do. He shifted forward and his fellow Heralds of Death followed him, walking down the pathway.

'_Diana, are you out there?' _Harry thought to one of his bonded through the link.

'_Yes, I can be there within the next ten minutes,' _Diana thought to Harry and she could feel the frustrated sigh that came from his being. _She took a few seconds to amend herself and decided to clarify. 'Maybe slightly less….Donna is off with Doctor Sandsmark's daughter, so I've got a few hours that I can kill. Did something come up?' _

'_You might say a whole lot of something came up,' _Harry thought before he clarified._ 'The League of Assassins.' _

"This arrow is manufactured in Gotham," Batman stated after he'd looked it over closely.

"Well, that means our mysterious archer is from Gotham, then," Clark offered as his eyes moved towards the ceiling. "Not sure how much I trust her."

"What do you mean?" Kara asked Clark, wondering where this sudden lack of blind trust was coming from. Not that she was upset about it; it just seemed off for Clark to be the one to pull the lack of trust card.

Clark was only too happy to clarify of her. "Don't you find it a bit strange that she arrived and that girl….what's her name…."

"Cheshire," Karen clarified.

'_Really, them again?' _Diana questioned Harry and he gave her a sound of affirmation through the link._ 'I'll get there as soon as I can.' _

'_It's appreciated,' _Harry told her in an honest voice as his green eyes flickered towards the situation.

"I don't trust her at all," Clark remarked before he turned around and looked up at the ceiling briefly before turning towards the rest of the group. "I don't trust that Cheshire just told the Assassins to stand down."

Batman's head was now buzzing with the same thoughts, perhaps Clark Kent was actually learning not to be a trusting idiot. The World's Greatest Detective pondered the situation in the back of his head and turned towards Clark, before a smile crossed his face.

"You might be onto something," Batman offered to him.

Lois was not going to lie, Batman smiling, even for a split second, was utterly terrifying. Not to mention the fact that she was pretty sure that the fabric of reality might break apart as a result. "You….I mean sure things are fishy, but you're acting like Harry with this sudden lack of trust."

"Yeah, you're acting like me," Harry chimed in before he realized what was said. "Wait a minute now, Lois…"

"I don't know, she's a wildcard," Karen interjected as she tried to find out if there were more clues that she could uncover.

After not finding one, the blonde's expression stirred into agitation as they had to go to track the one thing that they could follow and that was the League of Shadows.

They had forgotten about their mysterious ghost friend for a little bit but Boston was ready to let them know that he was still there.

"Yeah, archer girl, she's good, but we've got to find out whether or not that they can get the scrolls," Boston stated, still using Lana's body as a puppet. "The sooner we can get done, the sooner I can give this women's body back."

"Okay, okay, I haven't forgotten about it," Harry offered as he closed his eyes and tapped into the Lifeline Reader.

'_Scan for known members of the League of Shadows,' _Harry thought before he scanned for the footprints that were left.

"Any luck," Batman questioned, he stood up straight as Wonder Woman arrived. He surveyed the warrior woman for a moment and then his head turned away from her.

Diana figured that she just passed the Batman test of reluctant trust.

"I'll let you know before too long," Harry offered as he started to filter through what he needed to find. His green eyes widened as he contemplated what to do next and then nodded.

'_I think I've got it,' _Harry told Kara and Karen through the bond link and both blondes were interested, now he needed to tell them what they needed to do.

* * *

"Who was she?" Talia demanded as she walked down the pathway, with Jade following her, the young woman's eyes peering over her shoulder as she nervously watched for Batman. The daughter of Ra's Al Ghul didn't like being kept out of the loop in regards to anything that happened around her and she thought that Cheshire was lying about something, although what she was lying about, Talia had no clue.

"I have no idea but if she's a wildcard, then we should proceed with caution," Cheshire offered Talia and the two women exchanged a glare. "Believe me or not, that's your choice, but if we fight over these petty differences, this group of do-gooders would tear us apart."

Talia inclined her head in acknowledgment of those words, once again, Arcane had gotten in their way, he was annoyingly resourceful about doing that when coupled with his amazing power. The young assassin stepped forward as she heard a loud drip, drip, drip sound in the background. She remained rather rigid as she prepared to draw a sword from the sheath.

"Nothing there, mistress," one of the assassins stated.

Talia was not convinced, in fact her eyes flickered in suspicion before she twisted her head off to the side towards the tunnel on the other side. It was a blind spot and anyone who was an assassin knew that blind spots were bad "I'm not convinced of that, go forward and make sure the tunnel is cleared."

Two of her bodyguards nodded as they slid forward and prepared to throw explosives into the tunnel. They drew their arms back and propelled the explosions. Following up that action, there was a miniature explosion that resounded through the tunnel. A loud bang echoed and smoke appeared through the tunnel. The explosion was not enough to kill anyone but the smoke should be more than enough to flush any undesirable parties out of hiding.

They edged forward, there was a loud tapping sound around them and Talia's gaze never once broke. She calculated what she needed to have done in her head and she twisted her gaze towards her people.

"Keep it up, I know that they're close….."

Her words were cut off as a shadowed figure had one of the assassins hanging upside down and dangling. Talia's eyes widened and her mouth hung open as she saw one of the assassins dropped behind her.

She should have known by now that this was going to happen but somehow, she refused to believe that such of a thing would occur. The assassin's gaze twisted towards her minions before two words were spat out to them which told them all that they needed to know. "Cover me."

The assassins nodded in their most brisk manner as Talia's gaze moved back to focus on what was going on in front of her and Cheshire stood shoulder to shoulder with her.

Lois appeared out of nowhere and grabbed Talia, before pushing her to the ground. Talia popped back up, taken off guard from this attack looking towards the woman who took her down.

"That was for trying to put a dart through my neck," Lois offered and as Talia dodged the next attack, she pulled out a dagger made of Kryptonite. Lois felt a bit flushed as the modified Green Kryptonite affected her although not as much as it had before the small amount of antidote was given to her.

'_Right work in progress, can't attack her from close quarters, have to think smartly,'_ Lois thought as she took in a deep breath before letting it out in a blast of hurricane force winds in an attempt to try and catch Talia off guard. The dark haired woman's breath launched Talia flying to crash against the closest wall with a thud.

Talia was staggered but three of the larger assassins rushed towards their opponents to engage them in battle.

Lana launched forwards and using her heat vision she detonated one of the explosive charges that was on the thug.

There was a loud explosion as the Thug, and the assassins next to him were blown to smithereens and blood and guts splashed against the wall. Clark gave "Lana" a dirty look but the large sword enhanced with Kryptonite was something that he needed to dodge quickly, before it went through his head.

"You will bow before the master, infidel," one of the assassins stated but Clark grabbed the assassin around the neck and flung him back into the wall.

Lana's eyes widened as she saw another assassin sneak up behind Clark. Quickly, Deadman surfed out of her body and into Clark's, who then spun around to blocking the shot, which he followed up by driving the blade back into the throat of his attacker.

Meanwhile, Lana was confused, as the last thing she remembered, she was sitting at the kitchen table, enjoying coffee, and being a bitch to Alicia. The next thing she knew, she's in the middle of a chaotic free for all. Her eyes widened and blinked, she was nearly close to spitting out one question.

"Does anyone want to explain what the hell just happened?" Lana asked to Lois.

"No, you don't want to know, and you better duck," Lois offered in a hyperactive tone as she shoved Lana to the side and several shuriken fired towards both women.

Lana's eyes bugged out as she leaned against Lois and the two of them kept up with the battle.

Meanwhile Harry slipped down the tunnel. He had a feeling that this entire free for all and the desperation that was heightened, they were completely closer to getting the scrolls, he sensed they were in his grasp. Kara, Diana, and Karen edged their way down the tunnel following Harry.

'_What are we searching for?' _Karen asked before she paused. _'Or will we know when we find it?'_

'_Yes, we'll know when we find it,' _Kara thought to them.

'_Ambiguous, as usual,' _Karen thought as she turned her head over her shoulder. _'I couldn't be the only one who heard that.'_

'_Trust me, you weren't,' _Harry informed her and he was on guard for whatever came next down the pike. The green eyed wizard felt that something dangerous was happening but he wasn't sure exactly what.

"WHERE IS IT?"

And the sound of a frustrated yell indicated that they were getting perilously close to finding out the answer to that question. Harry saw a curtain of red hair as well as the person that voice belonged to. Harry's face snapped into a smile as he saw the frustration that was flickering through her eyes.

"So did you lose your car keys or something down here?" Harry asked with a smile.

Alex's head shifted around and she faced Harry. This was not going according to the well placed plan that she planned months and months ago. This was supposed to be the night where she was supposed to get the scrolls.

"Did you see anyone out of the ordinary down there?" Alex asked Harry as she tried not to panic although the eye twitch indicated her abject failure at doing so.

"Well it depends on what your opinion is of out of the ordinary," Harry said to Alex and her green eyes flickered towards Harry's.

"Now's not the time to play games," Alex remarked to him as she tried to keep her mind on the situation although she was really failing at it, truly she was failing to do so.

"I'm not playing any games, at least not intentionally," Harry told her.

"What are you doing down here?" Kara demanded as she stepped towards Alex but the redhead stepped back, annoyed that she had been questioned by this alternate version of one of her best friends.

"We have it down here," one of the hooded figures stated in a calm voice.

Harry was sick of getting the runaround so he decided to take some action.

"Halloween's over, time to lose the hoods," Harry told them as Kara and Karen sped over.

Kara reached forward and blocked an attempted stunning spell, before she grabbed onto the hood. Hood one was pulled off to reveal….the face of Hermione Granger.

Harry blinked at her.

"Harry, I can explain," Hermione remarked but there was a few seconds where Harry turned his back away from her to see the person that Karen unmasked.

"Um, Wotcher, Harry," Tonks stated as his eyes were locked on hers. She stepped back.

'_And we're busted,' _Tonks thought to the other members of Alex's collective.

'_Yes you are,' _Harry thought to them, as he pinpointed them all. _'Daphne, Astoria, Alison, Clara….all of you are busted.' _

'_How did you do that?' _Astoria asked, annoyed that Harry found a way to hack into their collective links.

_'I'm Harry Fucking Potter, what can't I do?' _Harry asked and that was a statement that was really hard to refute right then.

Alex was more annoyed than anything else, her plan, which was well thought out, was coming undone even further. The redhead witch clasped her hands in front of her.

"So, you don't have the scrolls," Harry informed them.

"The Sisterhood doesn't have the scrolls," Hermione remarked to Harry but Kara's eyes flickered towards Hermione's.

"Harry wasn't speaking to you," Kara stated in a clipped tone, she knew that Harry emotionally detached himself from Hermione along with everyone else from that world and she hoped that this better not be a clone or a trick or a shapeshifter or an android or anything along those lines.

Hermione turned around about to voice her annoyance but Alex shook her head.

"We don't have the scrolls and I think we'd both agree if those scrolls fall into the wrong hands, it could be a catastrophe," Alex informed them and Harry placed a hand to his chin, rubbing it as in consideration.

"Oh, a catastrophe, well aren't we being melodramatic today?"

Cheshire swooped down and reached into her bag, to present the scrolls.

"As for the scrolls you're searching for…."

Kara super sped in and snatched the scrolls away from her, while Diana used her lasso and wrapped it around the ankles of Cheshire. Cheshire did not see Diana coming and she fell face first onto the ground with a huge thump.

"Well that was easy," Diana remarked but suddenly a gas canister went off in their faces.

'_And I've got to learn that it's likely a good idea to pick my spots wisely and keep my mouth shut,' _Diana thought to herself as she started to choke on the tear gas that was coming in through the room. She was feeling fairly light headed and there was a ringing sensation that coursed through her head.

'_That's likely a pretty good plan,' _Karen thought as she saw the figures in the shadows.

'_You know what, screw these scrolls, they aren't worth preserving, and they're too dangerous to keep around,' _Harry thought as he heard the clangs.

'_Fine, screwing the scrolls, in three, two, one,' _Kara thought to them.

Three beams of heat vision shot out and nailed the scrolls that were now in Talia's hands. The woman's eyes widened as her hands stung slightly as the scrolls were destroyed in front of her eyes before she could use them. She gasped before she spat out a proclamation.

"What did you do?" Talia asked of him and Harry's grin widened.

"I removed the scrolls from the equation," Harry remarked as he decided to let her in on the secret. "They wouldn't have saved your father, all they would have done was unleashed hell on Earth."

Talia's eyes flickered with distrust before she said one thing to Harry, clutching her sword. "How do I you know that you're not lying?"

Harry decided to offer another word, his expression getting smugger by the second and he kept it fixed on her. "How do you know? You don't, but it's a moot point now."

Talia's eyes turned from Harry to the fighting one corridor down.

"So, I suppose that you're going to take me down," Talia remarked to him and Cheshire also posed for a fight, her hands trembling as she reached for a dagger.

"Stand down, today I'll let you pass, but only this one time," Harry commented as he placed a hand on Talia's shoulder his narrowed emerald eyes looking deeply into her green ones. She flinched at the contact but only for a brief instant. "I want you to give my regards to Ra's and tell him that he's on my list, I'm coming for him."

Talia's eyes blinked at that slight against her father but she figured that her father had made his share of extremely powerful enemies during his time. This Harry Potter, he was no different and she stepped back keeping her eyes locked on his.

"It's going to be done," Talia remarked as she slipped off and Cheshire fired her.

"He's just letting us walk, I don't like this," Cheshire said to Talia.

"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Jade," Talia told the younger girl but there was something in her mind that indicated that there was more to this entire situation that met the eyes. Perhaps she was getting excessively paranoid but Talia would rather be safe than sorry.

Harry watched her leave, along with Cheshire. He let them go for now, they really owed him their lives to an extent, as Alex might have killed them on sight for grabbing onto the scrolls.

Although Alex and her group disappeared in the shadows but with one difference, and that was that Harry could not track them down.

'_So….just out of curiosity, were those scrolls the real deal?' _Chloe thought to them, having watched the entire battle from afar.

Harry remained silent for a moment, that was a good question actually, he wondered if the scrolls even did exist or had been one big myth.

'_Well, I'm assuming that they were and they assumed that as well, so we could have destroyed a dummy set of scrolls that everyone believed where real,' _Harry informed them.

Only time would tell what they would be doing next and only more time would tell what the fate of the League of Shadows were. There were a lot of things that were bubbling over and tension was running high.

"Mission accomplished?" Clark asked.

"Boston, I see you've switched bodies," Harry remarked without any preamble and Clark's expression was bolder than ever.

"Well you can't blame me, this one just seemed….well it had a bit more punch to it," Clark remarked as he slammed his hand down onto his palm for emphasis.

Harry was going to have to disagree with that one but there was really no time to argue with a dead spirit, especially a dead spirit that was possessing the body of Clark Kent. There was something that told Harry that his stubbornness got rambled up to a new level by osmosis.

* * *

"So, you allowed them to get away," Batman offered to Harry and his green eyes followed the World's Greatest Detective.

He somehow knew that Batman was going to question his tactics but Harry had a counter in the back of his mind, he had it ever since he made the decision.

"Let them get away now and they'll let Ra's know everything," Harry remarked and Batman was there to pick holes in Harry's logic straight away.

Harry figured that was going to happen, Batman was the World's Greatest Nitpicking Detective after all but the emerald eyed wizard was ready with all of the counterpoints that he could muster. There was a tense moment as Harry and his group stood face to face with Batman.

"You may regret letting them go," Batman offered before he stared them down. "Play with fire like this, and you're going to get burned."

Harry knew that better than anyone, the dangers of playing with fire was something that he had been exploring now more than ever before. As it turned out, he had a plan and he was going to see if this would bring him Ra's Al Ghul. Although given that Ra's died more times than an army of cats, he was waiting to see what would happen based on this mad plan.

"If I get burned, then consider it a lesson that I'll have to learn but this time, Ra's is playing into my hand," Harry said before he stepped forward and his gaze met that of Batman's. "You know he's going to go after the Kandorians next."

Batman offered Harry a stiff nod in response; he figured this was coming for months. He was hard at work developing a contingency in case the Kandorians did what he feared they would do. Yet there was something of a nagging doubt in the back of his mind, as the Dark Knight wondered if Harry was also developing a contingency that could be used against Batman in the not so distant future.

"See what happens when it happens," Clark offered as he turned up.

"You're still not yourself, are you?" Batman asked him and Clark's smile grew wider before he shook his head.

"Man Bats, I tell you, no one can fool you," Clark offered as Lois showed up.

"Yeah, well um guy, listen, if we could have Clark back, that would be nice," Lois offered rather lamely before she sighed. "He might not seem much, and he can be annoying but hey…..he's something that we're used to having around."

"Ah, can't I try him out for a little bit longer?" Clark asked but Harry turned to him.

"Boston," Harry remarked with a reproachful smile. "Thanks for your help out there really and I'll….see what I can do about getting the guy who murdered you tracked down."

"Hey, take your time, man, I ain't in a hurry or nuthin," Boston remarked as he shook his head but Harry smiled before he turned to Batman.

Or at least he would have turned to Batman if he did not slip out.

'_One would think we'd be used to that by now,' _Harry commented to himself as he thought about that. Then again it was Batman and doing the unexpected was kind of what he did.

Harry needed to move to the next step, wondering what would come around the corner the next time.

* * *

"So the scrolls would have not have returned me back to the living, it's a disappointment but I should have expected it."

The raspy voice of Ra's Al Ghul stated this from the shadows. He had seen much better days; his latest near death experience left him tap dancing on the line between life and death. He had a nearly up close and personal experience with the Grim Reaper. His face had rather sunken in eyes and his faithful assistant Ubu stood on the other side of him, holding a mask and a tank that would give him constant doses of oxygen.

He faded in and out more and more as time passed. His heart thumped over, and over in his chest as he tried to keep his eyes focused despite his vision being blurred.

"The scrolls would have released an unspeakable horror," Talia informed her father, feeling the stress that was coursing through her mind and body. "It is a good thing we did not take that next and drastic step then."

"No, of course not,' Ra's agreed as he felt his throat nearly close up with the lack of oxygen but once again he pushed himself to breath.

"Breath master, breath easier, that's it, and deep breaths," Ubu stated as he held the oxygen tank, he would make that arrogant farm boy pay for the horrific beating he gave his master. The servant was nothing else, if not even loyal.

Talia watched the progress of her father; he was in worse shape than she ever saw him..

"I need an heir to take over my legacy for my time draws nearer, someone who is strong, someone who is durable, someone who is everlasting," Ra's remarked as Talia's eyes turned to her father and she opened her mouth to state her loyalty. "I need a male that will be able to lead this new world order, to cleanse the world of everything."

Talia's eyes followed Ra's and she felt like she had been slapped in the face, it was her father's quest for a male heir that continued and it really caused her more agitation now than ever before. The dark haired female switched her attentions towards her father and could not believe that he had casually disregarded her the way he did. What more could she do to earn his favor?

Talia wondered if it was worth it.

"Well this is charming, quite so yes."

The League of Shadows, depleted as they might be, stood up straight and their swords were drawn. Zod showed up, flanked by six of his finest and most loyal men. The key word was men for there were no women left; they betrayed him and left for Harry Potter.

"What are you doing here?" Talia demanded as she reached into her cloak and her blazing green eyes danced with determination.

Zod responded with a chuckle. "You have a fairly spirited daughter, Great One, I would like to think that it is a reflection upon your skills as a Father."

Ra's had his eyes locked onto Zod and he focused on the individual that stared up towards him. There was a lengthy pause as both of them kept their expression on the other. Time stood still as both of them refused to back down from the stare.

"What is the purpose of you coming here?" Ra's asked and his bodyguards stood. Ubu in particular looked ready to attack Zod.

Zod's expression turned to Ra's before a wide smile filled his features. "Do not fret, I come here to extend an alliance between both of our groups."

Now the Demon Head was both curious and suspicious, someone like Zod did not extend an offer for an alliance, not without a good reason. He just needed to figure out what that good reason was. His eyes, sunken in as they were, fixed with a heat seeking precision on his enemy before his raspy voice spoke towards Zod.

"Why would you wish to form an alliance with me?" Ra's asked.

"Our aims are the same, we both want what is best for this world," Zod commented as he placed his hands on the pedestal and peered up at Ra's. Whilst the man was a shattered shell of what he once was, Zod wished to form this alliance. "There are parties that present a problem to both of us as you well know."

Ra's nodded, he knew of that.

"And furthermore since our forces are depleted, we should combine our agendas," Zod told them. "It's getting closer and closer to the time where something is going to break regarding a mutual adversary of ours and you know who I am speaking of naturally."

Zod's head inclined towards Ra's and the Demon Head understood who he was speaking of immediately.

"That individual would be the one known as Harry Potter," Ra's offered to the Major and the young man inclined his head, smiling with a brisk nod.

"Yes, Harry Potter, he's caused us more than enough problems, and the problems that he's continued to cause us will be more than sufficient," Zod told him. "But if our combined forces work together, we might be able to figure out a way to take him down and all who oppose us."

Talia wondered if her father would truly believe what this Zod said. Zod was someone who she did not trust at all and some of her fellow assassins shared the same lack of trust that she had, although they were never going to be brazen enough to speak such a thing aloud.

Ra's considered the matter, he considered the positives and the negatives of the situation. The Demon Head's eyes flickered towards his enemy as his head remained stationary without him moving at all. This was not a situation that he was going to take lightly.

"Your proposal offers me an opportunity that I had not considered previously," Ra's offered as he got to his feet.

"Great one you should…."

"Ubu, your concern is noted but I'm not completely done yet," Ra's stated as he walked down the steps, taking them one at a time despite being unable to walk on his own accord.

Zod's eyes kept on his adversary, a potential enemy but yet he would be an invaluable ally, at least for now.

The two of them shook hands with each other and stared down each other.

For Ra's, Zod was that opportunity to get a potential vessel that would house his mind once and for all. Although in a more discreet way than his sloppy first attempt.

For Zod, he wanted his hands on the Lazarus Pit, he had heard of its potency and he wanted the power underneath his thumb.

* * *

"They've said this power is a curse and there have been warnings about other Heralds of Death slipping in the sanity department," Harry commented as he placed a hand on his head and Kara sat next to him in the Shining Light Foundation.

"We've heard it," Karen added as she joined them and a frown crossed over her face. "Do you think that we're….heading down that road?"

Harry could not answer, he did not want to answer, because he didn't want to admit that his sanity was slowly crawling away from him. Despite the fact that his green eyes had a certain look of madness in them.

"I don't know," Harry offered before he put his arm around one of his wives. Karen pushed in closer to him and he wrapped an arm around Kara as well as the blonde placed her head on the side of his shoulder. "I really don't know and I wish that I did."

Harry's breath was let out in a long sigh as he thought about it. There were times where he reflected on the actions that he had to take over the past months and the actions that he still had to take in the months ahead. The Harry's green eyes swam with a multitude of emotions and he wondered if he could solve all of the ills of the world in one fell swoop.

He thought he could solve more problems than he really should.

"We just got to step up and do it, no matter what," Kara said with a shrug. "Although I think that we all need some time off."

"Time off, what's that?" Karen asked Harry and the blonde's expression met Harry with a tepid one.

"I wish I knew that as well," Harry remarked, there was no question about it, he was more lost then he'd ever been and things were only going to get far worse than they were before.

Harry knew that Clark was back at the Kent Farm but he was going through his own crisis, it was obvious that he was on the fine line between sanity and insanity. Lara expressed her worry that the pressures that Clark endured might have done some long lasting damage to her son and Harry was convinced she was correct.

"We've got to prepare for war," Harry remarked as he turned around.

There was a war coming, with Checkmate, with Zod, with the League of Shadows, and now with this new side to the war. Harry got up to his feet and stepped forward before he made his way down the steps. Kara and Karen followed him.

He reached forward and pressed a button on the side of the wall. The wall gave way to reveal a glass cell and inside it was Lily Evans. Ever since Harry shoved the Portkey into her hand, she had been transported here and was kept for observation.

"So, what do you know about this Sisterhood thing?" Harry asked.

"I wasn't invited," Lily remarked with a shrug as she kept her eyes lock onto Harry's. "You know Harry, you can let me out."

"I could but I won't, at least not yet," Harry told her as he watched her.

"Trusting someone once in a while won't hurt you," Lily offered as Harry.

"Trusting people blindly got people killed before," Harry retorted to her, his expression never wavering from the gaze that was locked onto her.

"And you don't trust me," Lily said as she sighed and there was something that flickered through her eyes, and that was hurt. Her own son did not even trust her, that was horrible for her to experience.

Harry decided to sum things up in his own way. "Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me, but how many times have you fooled me with your games?"

"And yet, Hermione's returned along with others," Lily remarked before she placed her hand on the wall and leaned forward.

"Don't speak to me about her," Harry told Lily coldly and Lily smiled.

"You've lost her twice, so you're not going to even bother caring long enough to lose her a third time," Lily offered before she looked at Harry. "Can't say I blame you. She really isn't that brilliant anyway when you strip away the books. Good photographic memory and all, but really that's all that she has going for her. Not an inventive bone in her body."

Harry smiled for a few seconds as Kara and Karen watched for him.

"What do you know at the Red Queen?" Lily asked out of the blue.

Harry choose his next words carefully. "What do you know about the Red Queen?"

"Answering a question with a question, you're more like me than you'd care to admit," Lily said to Harry as she leaned backwards. "Let's face it, you want to know why your sanity has taken a leap as of late. You're trying hard to keep it together. Or maybe you're convincing yourself it's an act to throw people off."

Harry said nothing and neither did Kara and Karen.

"I can see you're going to be difficult," Harry offered as he turned around.

Lily shook her head; she wasn't trying to be difficult, that responsibility rested with her son. The fact of the matter is she was honestly worried about him; he had already started to fall down the same dangerous path as pretty much every person who had been chosen as the Herald of Death.

Harry walked off as he looked up but there was a buzzing over the income system.

"Harry, there's someone here to see you," M'gann commented over the intercom system.

Harry made his way down the steps, followed by Kara and Karen. He wondered who could be calling upon him at this hour.

There was a young woman with pale skin standing at the bottom of the stairs. She was dressed in black, with dark hair coming down past her shoulders. She was dressed in a black outfit that wrapped around her curvy frame although she was fairly short. Her smile widened as she caught a good glimpse at Harry.

"Who are you?" Harry asked to her, wondering what her stake in this game was.

The woman responded with a smile. "I'm Death."

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter. **


	27. Chapter 27: Endless

**Chapter Twenty Seven: Endless. **

"So you are."

Harry did not even know what to say about that revelation. The green eyed wizard focused his eyes on the dark hair woman in front of him as she returned his gaze. Kara and Karen stood nervously off to the side.

"The higher ups took long enough to make that decision," Karen commented, not really understanding the meaning of the word tact. The blonde's expression met Death's, fire flowing through her eyes.

Death smiled, although the smile was something that was rather mysterious and eerie. Harry, Kara, and Karen wondered if they would have the same difficulties with the new Death that they had with the old Death. Nervousness flickered through their minds even though they tried to remain calm.

'_So….our new boss,' _Harry thought to Kara before the blonde remarked to him mentally.

'_Is she same as the old boss?' _Kara thought to him before the green eyed wizard pulled her around him and there was tension as the two stared at each other.

Death waved one of her hands in the air in the universal sign for get on with it, while waiting for them to finish their mental press conference. Getting bored after a while she casually conjured a peanut butter and jelly sandwich which she began to eat as she waited for them to answer. Finishing it up Death began to whistle with extreme merriment as she watched them.

"So your predecessor gave me the impression that the current incarnation of Death wouldn't be able to manifest themselves on the mortal plane," Harry remarked in a calm tone of voice as he crossed his arms over his chest. A smile crossed Death's as focused on him fully. "So, isn't this a risk in the here and now?"

Death's expression remained rather cool and cordial and Harry did wonder about it, there was a long time where she remained silent.

"My predecessor said a lot of things, she did a lot of things, and her decisions did wonders on your mental condition," Death offered to Harry as she stood up to face him in the eyes and there was a second where Harry got rather defensive.

"I'm fine," Harry remarked although his voice lacked the necessary conviction and even Kara and Karen looked quite dubious. Then again they had their own mental quirks that came with being raised mostly by Zor-El for half of their life. So they were not the patron saints of all sanity so they kept their gaze locked on Death.

Death's expression became one of utter disbelief as her eyes continued to follow Harry's before she shook her head. Harry wondered why she disagreed with him, he thought that he was completely mentally stable or at least as mentally stable as he could be given the circumstances.

"You," Death remarked as she placed her hand on Harry's chest and paused for dramatic effect. "Are so far down the rabbit hole that you might as well change your last name to Tetch."

Death stood on the tips of her toes as she offered a deep sigh and closed her eyes before muttering, mostly to herself. She ran her hands through her dark hair before opening her eyes to stare back at Harry.

"I suppose it isn't your fault….my predecessor, she tried the Herald of Death experiment as a way to extend her own will and lost sight of the reason why the higher ups encouraged her to do so in the first place. There is a reason why every single previous Herald of Death lost all sense of their sanity and went crazy with power."

"You think?" Kara remarked but Death's face contorted into a slight smile before she continued to speak.

"Yes, but I don't think, I know, the Higher Ups are still going over what the previous Death did while in her role," Death remarked as she leaned forward at the waist towards them putting her hands on her hips as she did so in order to look at them properly. "And….the artifact that you touched….it restored your powers but the price to your sanity…..well it was rather high to say the very least."

Harry was quick to jump to the completely defensive and he locked eyes with Death before he commented to her. "I had no choice."

"I never said that you didn't have a choice," Death remarked in a brisk and diplomatic voice. "The higher ups put pressure on my predecessor to deliver and she….well she didn't handle pressure well. She was in that role for a very long time and it was obvious that she was getting rather worn down by it. She was the one who made the call to take out the dinosaurs and start anew with a new age of civilization."

Death reached forward and grabbed a soda to drown out the aftertaste of her sandwich as she continued to watch them.

"My Heralds are fractured, this was….this wasn't supposed to happen this way," Death remarked as she turned her head to the right as if asking someone to give her strength. She then turned back to face them again. "They never told me the mess that I inherited would be this bad.

"Well, we've….you know we're dealing with some supposed savior who has more issues than the Daily Planet," Harry remarked to her defensively.

"You're one to talk, you're one to talk," Death offered as she sighed.

Harry's mouth hung open as Kara and Karen appeared rather amused. There was no way that Harry could refute that point as it was true.

"Your sister and yourself…..the two of you need to find a way to very quickly get on the same page," Death remarked to Harry and the green eyed wizard's gaze locked onto her, wide eyed and agitated.

"She's the one playing games, not me," Harry stated and Death shook her head.

"Being made into a martyr in that world, hanging around Dumbledore way too much, dealing with Clark, and touching that artifact, that's not a healthy combination," Death mused as she clicked her tongue. "It's really done a number on your mind. You should really take some time off, to a nice tropical island, it might be good for you."

"Like to, but no time," Harry offered to her. "So….is there any reason why you're here?"

Death closed her eyes, she wondered when he was going to get to business, but it was something that had to happen.

"There is something breaking, you're going to go up against your gravest challenge yet, and you need to stand together or you will hang separately," Death offered as she cut to the chase. "I'd tell you more but…..well for one I couldn't if I wanted to and for a second thing, I don't really know any more than you do. So, we're both heading off into the unknown."

"Well that's just great," Kara remarked.

"That's part of the job, you knew it was part of a job," Death offered to her but there was a more apologetic tone in her voice. The dark haired woman decided to bring up one point again. "And you better find a way to make piece with Alex, because I have to deal with this enough back home with my own family, I don't need to deal with this amongst my Heralds."

Harry crossed his arms but said nothing. Not that he'd have the chance to for Death started to speak once more.

"There will be a few more Heralds coming," Death offered to him and Harry nodded.

'_Great, just what we need, more people that might undermine me,' _Harry thought.

'_She's right, you do kind of need a vacation,' _Chloe projected through the bond link.

"I'm not going to choose lightly, but I'm taking a close look at them, making sure how well they fit," Death concluded and then she added another statement as an afterthought. "They'll be quite marvelous."

With this cryptic statement Death showed herself out which left Harry, Kara, and Karen to ponder what they learned and try to wade their way through another situation.

* * *

"Do you ever get any sleep? No I'm not kidding, it's a really serious question."

Harry turned around and saw Courtney standing in the doorway at the Watchtower.

"Lots to do, helping to try and coordinate the next generation of heroes….well it's not a job that gets done on it's own," Harry remarked and Chloe stood by him, smiling.

"Thankfully, I'm able to put in a lot of the work, otherwise Harry would try to put twenty eight hours into a day instead of twenty six," Chloe offered as she coordinated the activities around them using a number of holographic screens which had popped up to float all around her, a smile crossing her face. "Everything appears quiet on the old western front."

"Always calm before the storm," Shayera remarked as she turned towards Harry.

"Nothing from Checkmate as of late?" Harry asked her and Shayera shook her head.

"They're not trying anything with us and we've….we've been trying to figure out what they've been doing," Shayera offered to him and the wizard smiled.

"So, have you been trying to look up any of your old friends?" Harry asked.

There was a flash of annoyance in her eyes. "Well, they seem to come in two categories so far. There is the type that pretty much goes fuck you, we don't want anything to do with you. And then there are the type that don't return phone calls."

Shayera paused before she added. "I'm more insulted by those people who don't return the phone calls. At least you know where you stand with the other group."

"Yes, very true," Harry agreed as he thought about this, a smile crossing his face.

Diana turned up and Harry greeted her with a smile. The raven haired princess slumped down and Harry moved over to stand behind her chair.

"Tough day?" Harry asked as he leaned in to breath in her ear and Diana's eyes closed as she sighed.

"Yes….it was a really tough day, being a diplomat, well it has its challenges, and my sister….well she wears me out," Diana remarked whilst Harry massaged the back of her neck and her shoulders.

Shayera smiled, she might have to look Harry up when she was having tensions, which was extremely often. She watched his hands masterfully work patterns around the back of Diana's neck as she slumped forward a slight amount.

"Donna has a lot of energy, doesn't she?" Harry asked Diana as he moved his hands down to really work on her shoulders digging his thumbs in to work out a knot and Diana agreed with a moan, slumping forward a slight amount as she lost herself in the sensation of his massage.

"Yes, I might have to find a way to….have her work out that energy," Diana remarked to Harry but she bit her lip as she realized what she really implied. There was a few seconds where she felt Harry's hands work up her shoulders to massage the base of her neck.

"So are you up for a nice little sparring session later?" Harry asked to Diana.

"Just give me a few minutes and yeah I'll be ready," Diana informed Harry and Shayera smiled.

"If you aren't up for it, I'll be happy to fill in, Princess," Shayera commented to Diana and the Amazon turned to face her with a knowing smile across her face.

"I'm pretty good to go actually but don't worry, I'm sure that your time will come," Diana remarked to Shayera and the redhead hawk woman nodded, thinking about the possibilities that a session with Harry would offer.

Kara turned up to catch Courtney staring at Harry from behind whilst his back was turned and the blonde could not resist giving a teasing smile to the younger blonde. "Well, Courtney might want to go a few rounds with Harry as well….you know to brush up on her skills."

Kara winked at Courtney and Courtney stepped back, stammering a slight bit as she tried to keep herself calm and collected. The blonde's eyes closed as Harry turned around to face her.

"And Harry could give her some pointers on how to use that staff," Chloe offered, with a grin that was hidden in the shadows.

A few more members of the League filed in, including Oliver, who looked like he was fidgeting.

"Is there something that I can help you with?" Chloe asked coolly as she kept trying to scan for anything, even a serial jaywalker. She wanted something her team could sink their teeth into.

"The new archer, do you know anything about her?" Oliver asked.

"Why, do you think your spot's in trouble?" Harry asked, barely bothering to look at him as he continued to rub Diana's neck. Kara had also decided to give him a neck massage to relax him, she felt that it was important to keep him relaxed given the circumstances. She thought that Death was right, he was about one step away from taking a fall off the edge into insanity.

"I mean have you see her, you know out of her costume," Oliver offered.

Karen could not resist chiming in with a few words of her own as she eyed Oliver. "Do you mean naked without her costume or in her street clothes?"

"Well either," Oliver admitted, knowing Harry, he would not be surprised about the first one.

"No, we don't know anything about her but we'll find out soon," Harry offered to him.

"I was hoping that you'd know something."

Oliver spun around and he saw Batman standing in front of him. The Emerald Archer fell backwards in shock swinging his arms around wildly his eyes wide as his heart thumped rapidly in his chest.

"Do you do that to everyone?" Oliver asked as Batman just gave him a steely gaze.

"I'm surprised you don't actually," Chloe offered, smiling.

Now Harry was wondering if this new archer had help to mask her identity. If he didn't know and Batman didn't, then she had to be getting help.

No, he shook his head, he was being needlessly paranoid. Of course, it wasn't being paranoid if people were out to get you, and he did in fact have people out to get him.

He would have to wait to see what was going to happen next, but his thoughts were now on the young archer, he wanted to find her and track her down.

* * *

Clark Kent's eyes flickered around his surroundings as he turned his head around wildly, his hands grew rather rigid, not to mention kind of numb as they started to shake rapidly. He was inside a crystal structure that resembled the Fortress of Solitude. The Last Son of Krypton wondered how he got here, all he had to do was creep towards his destination.

His eyes averted from one area to the next as his stomach twisted itself into knots, nerves causing tension through every single inch of his being. He was trying to get closer to what was in front of him and his nerves continued to escalate. He made his way forwards to the center of the room where there was a glowing symbol.

The symbol was shining bright with a silver "S" and it was carved in a block of ice. It kept glowing, nearly blinding Clark in it's intensity. The Last Son of Krypton's stepped even closer towards it and he wondered what he should do.

Should he touch it? That was a question that resounded through the back of his mind and he reached towards it, his fingers twitching ever so slightly. He wondered if he could take this step forward but it was beckoning for him, his birthright, something, anything that could give him the leg up. He had it in his midst and it was glowing before him, it was power and it amazed him.

The Last Son of Krypton reached forward and after touching the glowing symbol, his eyes began to glow green with power. Numbers scrolled through the back of his mind and Clark's glowing green eyes flickered for a few seconds.

"Welcome home, my son."

Clark turned around and saw the form of his father, his flesh and blood father, standing before him. His expression relaxed with this representation of his father, as opposed to the nameless, faceless AI that had tormented him for years. There was a few seconds where father and son stared at each other.

"Jor-El," Clark offered to him before he moved forward.

"We have met in the theater of the mind, because your birthright has been taken away by the usurper who has corrupted your mother even," Jor-El said to Clark and Clark stood straighter. "I told you that Harry Potter was a danger to you, as was Kara. The influence of Zor-El might not be obvious to you but I see it shining through her eyes, she is manipulative and twisted as he was."

Clark's shoulders slumped there was a moment of doubt.

"She was sent here to take care of you, and she's so deceptive that she was able to gain your confidence," Jor-El offered to him as he placed his hand on his son's shoulder. "Do not be swayed by the lies, she is devious, as he is. He was obviously bred by a manipulative chessmaster and will sacrifice you for the greater good."

Clark paused before a lump swallowed in his throat. "He….he's done great things for the world, he's helped people."

"Many tyrants have helped people at first before they sacrifice them," Jor-El remarked in a brisk tone of voice. "Dru-Zod was a good man who did great things before I betrayed him and I regret that."

Clark's eyes flickered up towards Jor-El who smiled gently at him. "I thought….I thought that I would have family."

"That branch of the House of El is diseased, Zor-El was a brutish tyrant and Alura is not much better, she is trying to frame Zod for crimes that he never committed, with help of Harry Potter," Jor-El offered to him.

"Are you trying to tell me that Zod is innocent?" Clark asked Jor-El, trying to work his mind around what his father was saying.

"Zod is what Krypton made him, but you can ensure that he never falls to that," Jor-El said to Clark and his head inclined.

"You told me to save him," Clark remarked to Jor-El and his father kept his eyes on Clark for a few seconds.

Clark wondered if he could save Zod, he wondered if he could save the world. He wondered about his destiny and he wondered about many things in his life. Despite how flawed he was with his powers, his determination burned through.

"I told you to save him, but to save him, you must assist Zod in taking down Harry Potter," Jor-El remarked as he eyed him. "And if your cousin gets in your way, well there are times where sacrifices need to be made."

Jor-El paused before he added.

"The same thing goes for your minders," Jor-El stated as he made sure his gaze was burning into Clark's eyes. "They will get in your way and prevent you from achieving your full potential but the power is in your hands, all you must do is grab it and seize it."

Clark's eyes burned with intensity, he wondered if he could do something that would take himself even higher and with more power in his hands. He clutched his hands together and peered in his father's eyes. Jor-El nodded towards him.

"Seize the power my son, seize your destiny, now is your time," Jor-El remarked as he close the gap between him and Clark and touched his hand to his.

Clark recoiled in shock as the House of El symbol burned into his hand.

"The world is in the palm of your hand," Jor-El commented to him, his expression twisted rather slightly but Clark did not notice the malicious flicker in his eyes.

Clark wondered how he was going to get his powers back, he began to slowly fade back from the dream scape. He faded out and wondered.

He sat up in in bed, his head spinning rapidly. The mark was burning itself into the inside his hand. He twisted his hand over to look at it, to see the mark continue to slowly burn it's way to completion. The Last Son of Krypton saw it seared into his hand, proof that the dream was real.

Now curiosity swam through his mind as the mark burned inside his hand. His eyes continued to blink as his heart started to beat even harder within his chest. The Last Son of Krypton lifted his hand.

Thankfully no one around him even knew about his meeting with Jor-El.

For the first time in a long time, Clark had purpose, and he didn't want to share it with anyone. This was something that he had to do.

He would show that he was worthy of the destiny that his father sent him here for.

* * *

Harry stepped towards the bathtub, the water being run inside it. It was a large and spacious bathtub, pretty much a replication of the prefect's bath at Hogwarts.

"Hi, Harry," Kara remarked to Harry from where she sat in the bathtub with her legs crossed, the bubbles covering her.

She was not the only one present, Alura, Lara, and Karen were also in the tub.

"Hi, Harry, come in, the water's great," Lara commented as she shifted in the water and allowed the droplets of water to drip down her breasts. The blonde eyed him with a hunger as Harry stripped off the rest of his clothes, before he found his way between Lara and Kara.

"There's nothing more relaxing than a nice, long soak," Alura offered as she wrapped her arms tightly around his waist from behind and pulled him into her soaking wet body. The blue eyed woman smiled as she held Harry close to her.

"No, it really isn't," Harry said to her.

Lara smiled as she moved towards then twisted to present her back to Harry.

"Why don't you wash my back?" Lara asked him, smiling Harry grabbed a rag and began to wash her back.

The water was burning hot, which was the only way that any of them could feel it. He was working his hands around her back.

"That feels so good," Lara breathed as Alura soaped up her hands and moved to begin washing Lara's front. Kara and Karen was washing each other as well and both females closed their eyes as they worked their hands over each other.

To be honest, Harry was glad that he was allowed time to have a nice relaxing soak, because he was thinking about what Death said and was starting to wonder about some of his more recent actions. There had to be some justification to those actions.

Although when the most obvious answer was that they were done for "The Greater Good", well that made Harry throw up in his mouth a little bit. He hated that justification coming up time and time again and he wondered even more if he was slipping down the slope as far, and as fast as Death thought he was going to.

"Oh, my entire back, that's it, Harry," Lara breathed as Harry worked his hands down her back slowly in a lingering caress as he made his way towards her rather enticing ass.

Lara needed some stress relief desperately, she visited her son a few hours ago and well….he was having one of his charming bursts of attitude. She understood that he had some issues regarding her and Harry's relationship, but it was time to pull his head out of his ass and realize that the world did not revolve around him.

"So is this a private party, or can anyone join?" Thara asked as she stepped forward, showing a hint of her legs as she dressed in a golden bathrobe.

"No, the more the merrier," Harry commented as she slid her robe off to reveal her body.

"Well good thing that looks like a pretty big bathtub," Faora stated, as she, Vala, and Alia, along with a few more female Kandorians showed up.

"That's not the only thing in that bathtub that is pretty big," Vala remarked as she licked her lips at the thought of Harry's cock inside her body again.

"Oh, we know, we know," Karen remarked as she leaned into Harry, pressing herself against his back. "So, would you like me to wash your back, Harry?"

Harry looked over his shoulder and offered her a smile. "You're going to need to find a rag to do that."

Karen's grin widened as the Kandorians all joined them in the tub which was heated up to allow maximum relaxing.

"Oh believe me, I don't need a rag," Karen commented as she squirted the soap all over her breasts and leaned forward.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

* * *

"So how are you enjoying Man's World so far, Donna?"

Diana talked to her sister as they were sitting in her main office area at the Shining Light Foundation. Claire was there as well, playing with a hand held video game, where she was blowing up meteors. So, naturally, like most people were when they played video games, she was submerged in her own little world. The redhead's eyes flickered as she worked her way through the level of the game.

Donna smiled as she shook her head. "Well, Man's World is….well it's interesting…..Harry promised to show me around Metropolis next week."

"Oh did he?" Diana asked with a knowing smile crossing her face and Donna placed her hands on her hips, before she looked towards her older sister.

"It's being done for my birthday, remember, I'm turning eighteen in five days," Donna offered as Claire smiled knowingly.

She was not the only one who smiled in a knowing manner; Diana had such a look on her face. Her sister had not bothered to learn the meaning of the word subtle but then again, that ran throughout the bloodline of the Amazon royal family.

"Donna, Cassie's here to visit you," M'gann chimed in through the intercom system.

"Cool, tell her I'll be right down," Donna offered as she made her way from the office and left her older sister sitting there blinking with a stunned expression on her face.

'_Cool?' _Diana asked as she shook her head, her lips curling with a slight bit of amusement. _'Well she's taking to Man's World rather well….at least it looks like that now.'_

The Amazon princess smiled as she leaned back into her chair. She wanted to keep herself ready on a moment's notice in case she was needed to help the League.

Harry was downstairs in the lobby, there were a couple new guests who had arrived at the Shining Light Foundation, so he was making sure that everyone was settled in. He would try and allow them to get everything together. Harry's green eyes blinked open as he saw Donna rushing towards him which was doing rather enticing things to her breasts.

"Hi, Harry," Donna offered as she tackled Harry in a brief hug.

"Hi, Donna and no….I haven't forgotten about my promise to you….we'll go on that little tour later," Harry informed her and Donna's expression filled her face with a bright smile.

"Yes, I can't wait for it," Donna commented to him before she followed him. "Did you meet Doctor Sandsmark's daughter yet?"

"Cassie….no not in person, although I've seen a glimpse or two of her," Harry offered to Donna.

"Hi, Donna and no….I haven't forgotten about my promise to you….we'll go on that little tour later," Harry informed her and Donna's expression filled her face with a bright smile.

"Why don't you come with me and meet her?" Donna suggested to him and Harry's face spread into a grin.

"Well, you don't have to twist my arm," Harry offered to her as Donna grinned, and grabbing him by the hand she lead Harry towards their destination.

A rather tall for her age blonde stood their waiting next to the doorway, she was a wearing a red t-shirt that clung rather enticingly to her upper body, showing off a pair of rather perky c-cups. Her tight blue jeans hugged her ass, and legs snugly. She was really quite beautiful for her age with a softly defined nose, high cheekbones, and shining blue eyes. There was an air of youthfulness to her features that Harry found really quite refreshing.

Cassie Sandsmark stared at Harry, she was tracing every single inch of his body with her eyes, the smile on her face widening as she did so.

"You must be Harry," Cassie offered as she leaned forward unintentionally showing off her breasts.

She was not going to tell Harry that she had a dream about him last night and it was quite explicit. Her blue eyes flickered with amazement as he smiled at her. It was the type of smile that caused her heart to go aflutter, and her knees to weaken. She continued to watch him, trying to keep herself calm although there were seconds where that ability faltered.

"Yes, and you must be Cassie, Donna's told me so much about you," Harry offered as he smiled at her.

Cassie immediately got nervous as she started to blink at Harry and she was stammering. "D-d-did she, what did she tell you….oh I mean that's a private conversation but…."

"Relax, it's nothing but the good things," Harry commented as he saw her red top ride up her stomach to show off her rather toned midsection. He grinned as he saw the delicious flesh that lay bare before him. The jeans wrapped snugly over her hips were also a delightful sight as well. "So how is your mother?"

"Busy," Cassie admitted to Harry, she was checking him out and she had to admit that he looked tastier up close and personal as she traveled her eyes down his body. The green eyes followed hers and she looked away. "She's doing really good but….I just moved here to Metropolis….and I don't know where anything is."

"I'll be able to take you when I take Donna, don't worry, I'll give you the tour around the city," Harry told Cassie and the blonde smiled at him, before she threw her arms around him with a hug.

"Thanks Harry, you're the best," Cassie commented as she flushed slightly at the sensation of her body pressed up against his. That was an amazing feeling to say the least.

"I do try, plus I need something to keep my mind off my work," Harry told her and Donna smiled.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Cassie and I will be more than up for the task of doing that," Donna told him before she turned to Cassie. "Won't we, Cass?"

Cassie nodded, her eyes flickering before she slowly began to lick her lips at the thought but she shook her head and kept her mind on the business at hand.

"So do you need any help at the Shining Light Foundation, I mean, this seems like a great place to work," Cassie offered as she looked towards Harry. Her mother had been leaning on her to do something more productive with her life. While she was not bad at school, she was not stellar.

"Well, I might be able to squeeze you in," Harry remarked and Cassie's expression flickered as she watched him.

"I'll be able to show you my qualifications, Mr. Potter," Cassie commented in a husky and teasing tone of voice.

She had no idea why she was acting this bold but there was something about this divine young man that pushed her towards him.

Donna smiled but she was going to be the one to get a piece of Harry first.

Harry's hearing picked up a whirling sound as was a dagger smashed through the open window. Cassie and Donna both gasped, but the green eyed wizard caught it deftly from the air as it was an inch away from his face.

He looked the dagger over in his hand and it's make was quite curious. He saw that there was a message that was tied to the dagger.

Without a seconds hesitation he took the message from the dagger, and tore it open.

'_We have a problem, I need your help. I wish to meet you in three days in the ruins of the temple. You know which one.'_

_T. _

Harry was curious and also suspicious.

He would find out what happened and also he had three days to prepare for what he needed to do, along with preparing to see whether this was a trap.

**To Be Continued in Power Struggle. **


	28. Chapter 28: Power Struggle Part One

**Chapter Twenty Eight: Power Struggle Part One. **

An individual dressed in a cloaked robe with the hood pulled up arrived to the Kandorian stronghold with a trio of bodyguards. He leaned on a cane as he surveyed his surroundings but when he entered the fortress properly, he handed it to one of his retainers. He stood up taller as he made his way inside, his back arched a tiny bit as he kept walking with a limp, keeping his strides rather strong. Even if he was about to keel over at any second, he was there and he arrived.

A large man stood in the doorway, and one of the assassins stepped forward.

"I'm here to see Zod," the robed figure stated in a raspy voice as he made a motion for his men to stand down.

"Enter," the hulking brute stated as he took a step back and allowed them to enter the stronghold.

Ra's Al Ghul understood that every tick of the clock brought him closer to the time where he might have to do something drastic. That was why he accepted this alliance with Zod, although there would come a time where that asset would be cut free. The Demon Head's facial expression was a mask of fury that was unmatched by anyone else in the world. He continued to walk forward despite the sheer agony that coursed through his knee.

His most recent death had ravaged his body worse then ever before and he spent every waking moment of his life in abject agony. A small bit of the serum was able to ease his pain but he was careful not to become too reliant on it.

"It's good to see that you're here and in admirable health," Zod commented as he stood tall and reached forward to grab the hand of Ra's firmly to shake it.

Ra's wondered if Zod was trying to take a thinly veiled shot at his lack of health. There was two bodyguards behind Zod and his retainers stared them down. There was an undercurrent of hostility, it was almost like a cold war. Both were waiting for the other to take the shot of betrayal.

"What is your progress in dealing with the Star Child?" Ra's asked Zod as the Major offered him a chair to sit down in. "No, I'll stand."

Weakness was not in Ra's Al Ghul nature to exhibit, especially in front of Zod.

"His own insecurities will be his undoing more than anything else," Zod informed him. It was true, if he understood anything about the son of Jor-El, it was that he was his own worst enemy. Zod exploited the doubts that he had in his mind, stirring up a hornet's nest.

Ra's facial expression twisted into a sneer and he lifted his arm to up to place his hand on the wall to his side.

"Do not….do not presume to know these things until the fight is over," Ra's stated in a pained tone of voice as he used his raised arm to brace himself up and kept his eyes narrowed on his "ally".

Zod's eyes flickered towards Ra's face. Calmness was the only defining emotion that he allowed himself to present. He placed his hands on his side and continued to watch the man before him, but focused his hearing off to the side. He was half expecting someone to turn up and cause problems. It was the instincts that were bred into him as a trained solider and some might call it paranoia but others called it survival.

"Is there a problem?" Ra's asked Zod, a cold calmness in his eyes. He understood where something was wrong and centuries allowed him to read the body language along with the intentions of the people around him. He waited for Zod to answer.

Zod's eyes and attention snapped him back into reality as he turned around. "It's nothing."

It was far from nothing as Zod found out in the next few seconds as a smoke bomb was thrown to the ground. An explosion resounded around them and multicolored smoke filled the area, causing everyone caught within it to start choking violently.

A figure swooped down from the shadows and the assassins could not get a fix on them. The figure in the mist jumped out, two objects in hand, which were rammed into the chests of the would be attackers. There was an electrical surge as they screamed out loud and landed flat on their backs.

"What kind of trick is this?" Zod demanded as he saw a flicker of green in the light and suddenly grew extremely weak. His expression was rather pained as he saw the Kryptonite ring on a gloved hand. He tried to use his heat vision to blast this person but a shield appeared around his potential victim.

A green Kryptonite dagger flew out with the intent to impale Zod. Zod dodged it but felt weakened by the mere presence.

Ra's expression flickered to one of curiosity and then anger as he reached forth into his satchel and produced a sword. He swung it towards the enemy but his attacks with undermined by the weakness of his body, and he was unable to put any really strength into his blows.

"Checkmate sends its regards, to the both of you," a modulated voice stated as the figure kept moving, blending into the surroundings to the point where the attacks grew more precise and more frantic. Two green fireballs appeared. It was magically conjured fire but it was enhanced by liquefied Kryptonite.

It was proven time and time again that magic made an utter bitch out of psychics. And this odd quirk caused the Kandorians even more pain and there was a loud scream that echoed through them as their skin blistered and there was permanent damage.

"Who are you?" Zod breathed as she raised her hand and summoned the Kryptonite dagger into her hand and twirled it casually between her fingers.

"I'm here to save the world," the modulated voice stated as a pair of green eyes beneath the mask stared Zod down.

"Lily Potter," Zod breathed but the figure stabbed him in the shoulder with the Kryptonite dagger.

"You may call me Downfall," the figure in the shadows stated as the mysterious figure dug the Kryptonite dagger into his shoulder further, scrawling a "D" into it, a permanent scar that would remind Zod of Downfall's victory for the rest of his days. The figure sped off without another word.

Death watched the scene, cloaked in the shadows. The chess game was getting more intense and she wondered if it could be stopped before innocents were hurt. There were two other people in the shadows next to her and a third appeared.

"I don't even know why you brought me along to observe this," a voice stated, she sounded bored out of her skull.

"I'm not going to tolerate infighting between my Heralds for much longer," Death commented as she turned to the figure in the shadows. "Make sure she understands what will happen. Harry is on the road to recovery from touching the artifact but he must take things one day at a time and he's always going to be perilously close to the rabbit hole."

The figure in the shadows folded her arms and a scowl crossed her face, a nasty look flickering through her eyes.

"He shouldn't…."

"You're not perfect," Death commented in a crisp tone of voice.

If they didn't make amends soon, she would force them all into a room together until they did, because with the coming darkness sneaking up on them, they needed to stand together or they would hang separately.

There was no response.

Kal-El was another issue that she inherited from her predecessor. The previous Death had a sick desire to dick Clark around just for her own amusement and that gave him several issues. The cream of the crop was taking Lana from him, then influencing him to go back in time, and save her, only to take his father from him.

Jonathan Kent accepted that his time had come, which was a relief. Although he expressed concerns about the dangerous path that his son might be going down but Death of the Endless thought that Clark's choices could potentially define him or eventually defile him.

* * *

Harry Potter spent the majority of his time in the company of extremely attractive females, so much so that it was an oddly uninteresting sight when it happened. He was in the company of two of them today, that being Donna Troy and Cassie Sandsmark. He was taking both of the girls on a tour of the city of Metropolis.

"It's amazing," Cassie commented as she watched Harry with a smile crossing her face.

Harry wondered if she was talking about the city or himself but perhaps he should maintain the illusion of being modest. That false modesty usually served him pretty well. His green eyes flickered towards the bright blue eyes of Cassie and Donna.

"I….the pictures and the books don't do it any justice, do they?" Donna asked Harry and Harry's grin spread across his face as he pulled the younger sister of one of his bonded towards him in a hug.

"No, they don't," Harry offered as the two of them walked around the city.

So far, things were quiet, a bit too quiet for Harry's liking. He had a sense that things were going to get even more intense as time went on, he judged the situation as some kind of calm before the storm that he might have to deal with.

Zod disappeared into the night after the last time Harry ran into him and Tess commented that she did not even hear from him. Perhaps Harry had gotten better in smelling a rat since the last time he was around but that's what Zod was, a rat. He put all of those thoughts out of his mind as he led the two young females through the doors of the Daily Planet.

"I have to go check out a couple of things, you don't mind, do you?" Harry asked Cassie and Donna who smiled in response.

"Don't keep us waiting too long, Harry," Cassie commented with a bold smile as she placed her hands on her hips and waited for Harry to go take care of business.

When Donna assumed that Harry was out of an earshot, she turned towards Cassie with a thinly veiled grin crossing her face. The blonde raised an eyebrow, curious to see what her dark haired friend was cooking up now.

"So, what do you think?" Donna asked her and Cassie raised an eyebrow, wondering why Donna asked her a question like that. The dark haired female was quick to elaborate on the situation as she kept her gaze locked onto him. "You want his cock so bad, don't you?"

"Donna!" Cassie snapped in a scandalized tone of voice, unable to believe her friend was displaying such a blatant lack of tack.

"Don't Donna me, it's obvious in your eyes," Donna commented to the blonde in a light tone of voice as she wrapped her arm tightly around Cassie and pulled her into a kiss. "That's okay, you're young, beautiful, and Harry is the best man to have your first time with."

Half of the Amazons on the island were after his powerful cock as well, Donna mentally noted. She suspected that if Harry ever returned to the island, he'd be extremely popular and she would like a front row seat for that show. In fact, she would also enjoy being an active participation in the show.

Harry was out of their earshot or so they thought. He was hearing every single snatch of the conversation that they had. The green eyes of Harry swam with amusement as he turned up and saw a brief glimpse of Clark.

Perhaps it was Harry's imagination but Clark made his way off in the other direction the moment that Harry arrived. Lois noticed Harry and greeted him with a smile as he turned up to the office, a grin crossing her face.

"Yeah, sorry about that….with Clark," Lois informed Harry as he turned up and the dark haired woman's expression followed him. "I don't know what his problem is….well his current problem, if you know what I mean."

Lois fixed her gaze on Harry as she backed off and allowed Harry a few moments to speak with her.

"Just wondering if you've heard anything about the Kandorians, lately," Harry remarked to her and Lois's eyes widened but she shook her head. She wondered why Harry was asking her of all people about this. She knew far less than she did.

"No….although Zod's been quiet, you aren't concerned about that, are you?" Lois asked to him, with curiosity manifesting across her face. She kept her eyes firmly focused onto Harry as he smiled.

"Concerned, yes, a little bit, but it's just a waiting game now," Harry remarked to Lois as he turned around. "I just figured that anything of value, it comes through here first."

Lois would have to agree with that as she placed her hand on her chin and looked through the news. There were a few petty crimes, stopped by the Blur but that was just business as usual. Her eagle eye was normally able to pick out the absurdity in the world but now she was trying to put together more pieces. She frowned deeply.

"Thanks, Lois," Harry remarked as he looked at her. "I'll talk to you later."

Lois smiled as he moved off in the other direction. She had a deadline to meet, self-imposed but she still had one to make.

"Sorry, if I kept you waiting," Harry commented to both Donna and Cassie but both females exchanged a wide smile.

"Believe me Harry, it's more than worth the wait," Cassie told him with a wide smile on her face.

Harry smiled, she was being rather subtle.

"So, how about we return back, it's getting a bit late in the afternoon?" Donna asked to him.

Harry thought that she seemed anxious about something and it was obvious what.

'_My sister is not subtle when she hints about something,' _Diana thought although she was extremely amused about what was going to transpire.

'_I wonder if she gets it from you,' _Harry thought to Diana and the Raven haired princess smiled through the bond link.

'_I'm not sure if I should be insulted by that or not,'_ Diana thought.

Donna and Cassie were back at the Shining Light Foundation immediately and suddenly, the younger princess smiled.

"So I've been eighteen for a few hours and Cassie will be in a little bit," Donna commented to Harry in a not so subtle tone of voice as she placed her hands on her hips.

"I think I might have something for you to unwrap for your birthday," Harry remarked to Donna as she grabbed him around the waist and planted her lips onto his in a searing kiss.

The dark haired woman continued to ram her tongue down into his throat, trying to choke him with it but his tongue pushed her out. The two continued there hot and heavy makeout session, with Harry pulling her closely into his muscular chest.

Cassie watched, feeling a bit left out as Donna was tipped back onto the couch in the lounge area. She reversed Harry's positioning and Donna kissed him on the mouth, as she ripped his shirt open to reveal his sculpted chest and abs.

"Mmm," Donna stated in a lustful tone of voice, drool threatening to escape from her mouth. She ran her hands up and down his body slowly tracing every inch of his upper body with her finger tips as she committed it to memory.

She clutched his shoulder with her left hand and with her right the dark haired Amazon ran her hand slowly down his center in the direction of his groin.

"Cassie, babe, join the party," Donna encouraged her and she stepped forward, in a dazed expression but she placed her hands on Harry's shoulders and started to rub them.

"Cassie, babe, join the party," Donna encouraged her. In a daze she stepped forward to place her hands on Harry's shoulders and started to rub them in a lingering caress.

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

* * *

Talia Al Ghul swayed her body from side to side as Jade turned to look at her, a hood covering her face and the Cheshire mask in her hand.

"Will you quit doing that?" Jade asked as she continued to watch Talia who looked over her shoulder. "You're making this situation already worse than it is."

"I'm waiting for….him to show up," Talia remarked as Jade stared at her.

"And you're acting like an overeager Freshman going to homecoming," Jade commented in a biting tone as she could not deny that she was also extremely interested in what Harry Potter had to offer them. "Are you really going to…."

"I'd like to exercise my options," Talia offered but now her mind was going around in circles as she thought about everything that occurred over the past few weeks. She reached up and rested her hands on the side of her face as she continued to mull everything over.

Her father seemed to have all of the right answers for a while but as time passed, his rhetoric seemed weaker, as if he truly didn't believe in what he was saying. Talia's eyes narrowed she felt that he had betrayed everything that he ever taught her, the second he joined up with Zod. Now Talia felt the need to even the odds.

She did not want to go down this road, as some people would perceive what she was doing as a betrayal. The dark haired woman kept herself calm and her companion was as equally calm, although her eyes flickered from one end of the area to the other.

Jade heard a rustling in the shadows and a dagger appeared in her hand. Being an assassin, she had hair trigger reflexes that could be drawn upon in a matter of moments. Her eyes flickered with a great deal of annoyance as she threw the dagger in the direction of the person who had made the noise.

The dagger froze in mid air and then dropped to the ground.

"Great reflexes."

Harry Potter walked out of the shadows and both members of the League of Shadows watched him appear in their line of sight. Both females kept their eyes on him and the situation was tense. Talia relaxed first but Jade was not going to back up without a fight, her eyes pierced him with an intense glare.

"So, you think that you're amusing," Jade commented to him but Harry smiled at her. She did not like to admit how much that smile affected her.

"While I'm sure that I can be fun loving as the next person, you've called me here for a reason and given the fact that we're doing this in the dead of night in one of the worst parts of this town, it's not for any fun and games," Harry remarked to them without taking a breath. He had Diana, Kara, and Karen waiting around the outside, on the off chance that this was a League of Shadows ploy. He wanted to think that things weren't like that but it was better to play it safe than play it sorry.

Besides even if it wasn't a ploy, there was always a chance that the League of Shadows could jump in and cause trouble. That happened in the past and Harry was not about to deny that it could happen once more in the future.

"Yes, we are for a reason and you know what the reason is," Talia remarked as Harry raised an eyebrow. She was not going to be one to play games, her green eyes met his green eyes. "It has to do with a partnership between Ra's Al Ghul and Zod."

Harry's expression remained calm. He had to admit that one came a bit out of left field but maybe it was because they spent most of the past three months going to war over the Book of RAO.

"Last time I checked….Ra's decided to try and use Zod's head as a vessel for his own brand of insanity," Harry remarked to them.

"Desperate times call for strange bedfellows," Jade offered him in a sardonic tone of voice. There were times where she did not see eye to eye with a few members of the League of Shadows but there was times where she needed to take certain steps and coexist with them.

"I see that," Harry commented to her as his expression never wavered.

All of them awaited there being some kind of catch that would upset the apple cart. The green eyes of Harry fixed upon those of Talia and both continued to stare back and forth with each other, neither wished to back up from the stance that either of them had.

"My father….he's not well," Talia remarked.

'_And we're just coming to this revelation,' _Kara thought through the bond link, placing a hand on her side and throwing her hair back. _'Nothing yet, love.'_

'_Keep a look out, they'll show up eventually,' _Harry thought although he was unsure if this was because of the meeting or because they found out that Talia and Jade found their way over.

"My father…has had a source in their midst for so long," Talia remarked to Harry and he raised an eyebrow. She answered the question that was unasked. "I have no idea who the mole is, but there is every reason to believe that Zod has his own eyes and ears in the inner circle of my father."

"And if he knew who they are, they'd be dead," Harry offered to them and Talia nodded knowingly.

"In another time, the Great One would have taken out any resistance and cut him off at the head," Jade stated to Harry. Her eyes flickered towards him as she added. "And now…."

"It's becoming so that he can't even figure out when someone's trying to double deal him," Harry told them and the two dark haired assassins nodded.

"I believe that we can stop this partnership, because we both know what Zod is after, the Lazarus Pit," Talia offered him as she paused. "And we both were there and saw what happened the last time a Kryptonian accessed one of the pits."

Harry remembered all too well what happened, in fact it flickered into his mind, all that Clark did after he got knocked into the pit. Despite the fact the wizard was still recovering after touching the artifact, he was not sure that Clark completely back to what passed as normal for him after all of these months.

That being said, someone like Clark with Lazarus induced insanity was nowhere near as bad as someone like Zod with Lazarus induced insanity.

"I have information for you," Talia told Harry and Harry awaited for her to give it to him.

He'd find out if it was accurate or not before too long.

* * *

Clark wondered if his journey, for better or for worse, had lead him to this moment. He was once again in what appeared to be a representation of the Fortress of Solitude. Of course, his mother had decommissioned the Fortress, thinking Kal-El not to be ready and she encouraged him to get his head on straight, to allow his minders to take care of him.

"Do you see it clearly now, Kal-El?" Jor-El commented in a crisp voice as he faced his son who nodded. There was a burning "S" symbol in the stone. "You have been kept from your birthright, you have been kept from your destiny. You were to be a symbol that would lead your fellow Kandorians to a new golden age."

Jor-El paused as his eyes locked onto his son's.

"Harry Potter will squander them, he will cause them to fall flat on their faces," Jor-El commented in an extremely brisk tone of voice, his voice utterly calm and utterly cold, leaving no room for argument. "You must find a way to lead them Kal-El, you must find a way to help lead them and make sure Zod does not fall."

"Why do I need Zod?" Clark asked to Jor-El but as always, his father had the answers for him.

"Zod represents a legacy for the Kandorians and he is not an ally that you should discount, Kal-El," Jor-El commented to his son in an oddly formal and stiff tone of voice. "You disappoint me by asking these questions. You will fail and the world will be doomed if you do not learn to take decisive action!"

For a brief moment, Clark thought that he was going to be slapped by Jor-El.

"I have taken steps to block you from their influence," Jor-El commented and there was no need for Clark to ask who they were.

He did have a question for his father all the same and his eyes turned towards Jor-El. "Do you….do you think they'll notice?"

"As one of the most foremost geniuses in all of Krypton, I do not think that a quartet of mere girls will be out of my ability to negate," Jor-El stated in a proud and haughty voice. Kal-El was shaken as his boldness diminished.

"I….are you sure?" Clark asked and Jor-El reached forward, placing a grip on his son's shoulder and roughly squeezing it.

"Yes, Kal-El, I'm sure, you need to learn that they are not more powerful than you, and they will be put in their place," Jor-El commented as his eyes flared.

"What about my mother?" Kal-El asked and Jor-El's grip squeezed around his son's shoulder.

"Lara is dead to me, as she should be to you, Kal," Jor-El remarked and Clark's expression flickered for a second before he looked back up.

"CLARK!"

Lana was at the entrance of the barn and she saw Clark slumped over like he was lost in space. She thought about dumping water over his head and bringing him back to life. The dark haired woman stepped in and her legs nervously twitched as she kept walking towards him. Her eyes blinked and she traveled towards him.

"Is everything fine, Clark?" Lana asked, Clark looked like he had a blackout.

"Everything's fine Lana," Clark commented as he grabbed her around the waist and gave her a wide grin, before he sped her into the wall and pressed her against it, kissing her. "In fact, it's more than fine."

Lana's expression was one of surprised, as of late, Clark had been emotionally detached, she had to coax him to do certain things. Now, she did not….her mind was losing herself as his tongue buried into her mouth.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," a voice commented and Clark and Lana turned around.

Clark cleared his throat and stood up with a prideful and stiff expression. He wondered what came over him, although it felt good to conquer this woman. A few seconds later and he would have her kneel before him. He would drill her in the mouth until her jaw broke and she begged for no more.

He shook his head, wondering where that came from. Clark was losing all sense of himself and he did not necessarily think that this was a bad thing at all. Never the less, his gaze traveled until it met a brunette girl who stood before him in the barn, dressed in a black t-shirt, jeans, and hair that was slightly bushy.

"We haven't been introduced," Clark remarked and Hermione watched him.

Lois showed up at this second, she had seen Lana in the ground, with scratches on her cheek.

'_I really didn't think you had it in you Clark,' _Lois thought and she tried to tell Harry that there was someone here. _'And now, I'm getting a busy signal. And I thought calling customer service was a bitch.'_

Lois said nothing as she waited for this woman to say something.

"My name is Hermione Granger," Hermione remarked as she smiled at him. "I'm a huge fan of your work at the Daily Planet, I think you're a brilliant journalist."

Clark wondered about this as the brunette's eyes flickered and a grin passed over her lips. The Kryptonian suspected nothing at least not for the moment although Hermione kept pressing on, the grin on her face getting wider.

"I hope you don't mind….if I hang out with you a little bit," Hermione remarked to him with a slight smile on her face.

Kara turned up and saw Hermione standing there. She turned invisible as she decided to observe how this played out.

"I have information about a story that is going to light the world on fire," Hermione breathed to Clark but she paused and looked around. "I'll only tell it to you, if you're the only one who is around."

'_Alex better appreciate what I'm doing,' _Hermione added as an afterthought which Kara picked up, even though she said nothing.

As Kara tried to delve into Hermione's mind to find out what Harry's female duplicate was doing. Hermione was scooped up in Clark's arms and sped off.

'_Do not go after them, Lois, Lana,' _Kara thought.

'_Wait, are you telling us not to do our job?' _Lana asked to Kara in confusion.

'_No, the stakes have gotten dangerous, we don't know what's at stake here,' _Harry thought to them finally popping in. _'Sorry, Lois, busy looking into something.'_

'_No problem, shit happens but what is Clark doing?' _Lois asked.

Harry did not answer, mostly because he wanted to see how this played out.

Death appeared from where Harry stood at the edge of the Kent Farm, appearing in a flash.

"You know, this is only going to end badly," Death told him.

"Yes, but she's the one who is taking this road, not me," Harry told Death and Death sighed.

"You are keeping your mother imprisoned," Death told him and Harry turned around.

It's funny, isn't it," Harry remarked, keeping himself calm. "If I keep here there, I'm the biggest jerk in town but if I let her out and she tries something, I'm the biggest idiot in town."

"There is one thing you could do that would make sure she does not try anything deceptive," Death remarked to Harry. "It was a journal, partially corrupted by my predecessor and I believe she's sincere about her repenting."

Harry said nothing other than offering a non-committal shrug.

Death was now sorely tempted to shove Rose, Harry, Lily, and Alex all in a room and allow them to work their tensions out. Then maybe for an encore she could get a piece of Harry herself but first things first.

* * *

"I've found out that there is a traitor within your midst," Zod commented to Ra's as he stared him down.

Ra's was nearly belligerent, he refused to think such a thing would happen and his expression was growing to one of disbelief and he stared down Zod.

"How do you know this?" Ra's asked.

"Are you trying to say that the Great One does not know when there is a traitor in his midst?" a second individual stated in a challenging voice as his eyes locked onto Zod.

Zod's expression twisted into a smile of his own as he faced all of the members of the League of Shadows that converged. There were far less on both sides but then again, there were far less on Zod's side as well. It was quite the interesting contrast and the Kandorian's expression continued to contort to one in malice.

"Why don't you ask your daughter about betrayal?" Zod asked Ra's with a crisp tone and Talia's eyes widened.

"I don't know how you get off coming in here and making these accusations," Talia remarked as she spun around and was prepared to do something about Zod but two of the Kandorians grabbed her around the arms.

She pushed herself free and drawing her sword in a smooth motion slashed it across one of Kandorians chest, surprisingly the sword shattered on impact.

Talia stood, eyes widened as the shattered pieces of the sword dropped to the ground. Her eyes continued to flicker in confusion.

"They have their powers back," Talia commented in an awed tone.

Ra's was caught off guard, he thought that Zod was the only one who had his powers returned to him. The Demon Head's eyes flickered into a glare as he stood to face Zod.

"Your daughter has betrayed you, are you going to do something about it?" Zod asked him and Ra's reached into his cane, as he slowly slipped out a Kryptonite sword.

"I will not have you speak of my daughter like that, Zod," Ra's commented and the partnership broke apart like that.

Zod blocked his hand and twisted his wrist.

"My suit now blocks the radiation, unlike some, I learn from past mistakes," Zod stated as his hands squeezed around Ra's throat and he started to have the life squeezed out of him. "That's it, on your knees old man."

As Talia's eyes nervously looked over her shoulder a rough faced Kandorian grabbed her from behind. Clasping his hand over her mouth, he held her into place.

"If you value the life and the life of your daughter, you will point me to the Lazarus pits, so I can make my army invincible," Zod growled to Ra's as his fingers dug into the old man's neck and blood started to dripped from his mouth.

"Drop dead," Ra's growled as he stared Zod with contempt.

Cheshire rushed in an attempt to nail the Kandorian who'd grabbed Talia from behind, in an unarmored area on the back of the neck with a dagger. The thug responded to this by backhanding her hard in an almost casual manner as if she was little more then a gnat.

Jade was sent flying backwards. She only could make out the arrow being shot in. The arrow connected into the wall and blasted a flare that caused the Kandorians to be blinded.

Talia took this advantage to slip out of the hold she was in and she slid underneath the follow up attack. She reached down to help her father, but Clark sped in.

"You're not going anywhere," Clark commented as he grabbed Ra's by the throat and picked him up.

"You must let me go," Ra's panted as Clark hurled him halfway across the room.

Clark, on the other hand, was not armored, so the moment he came into proximity the modified Kryptonite sword, it immediately cause him to hunch over in agony.

Ra's crawled over towards it and lifted the sword which he pointed it towards the throat of Kal-El.

"Say good night Star Child, you're too dangerous to allow to live," Ra's commented as his eyes flared with madness.

Zod sped back in and grabbed Ra's around the waist he lifted him from the ground, before slamming him against the wall.

There was a second flare that caused everyone to be blinded and their ears rang. Clark in particular felt like there was a never ending humming that coursed through his ears and it was hard to keep his head up and focus.

"Damn it," Clark groaned as he tried to grab his ears but the humming would not subside even for a second. He felt his eyes water and the pain continued to course through him until a white blur shot down seemingly from out of nowhere.

Clark's eyes continued to follow the situation as the Kryptonite dagger was picked up as one gloved hand grabbed him from behind, holding his hands back. The dagger was placed at his ear, the tip up against him causing a burning to explode through him. "

I should take you down right now," the modulated voice said in Clark's ear.

"Who are you?" Clark groaned as he staggered, his eyes flushed.

"I'm Downfall," Downfall said as the shadowed figure, no shape, no nothing, hurled him across the room.

Clark landed, cuts appearing over his face.

"Who are you?" Clark demanded as he tried to speed in but suddenly he was frozen like he was nothing as whips extended from Downfall's suit.

The entire suit appeared to be made of modified Kryptonite and he watched as the Kandorians could not go near this person either.

Whatever shielding Zod used….this was a different form of modified Kryptonite then what the Kandorians had created, because their shielding did not work.

"Checkmate," Downfall stated as the whips were brought down on Clark's face and chest, causing him unbearable pain.

Ra's wondered who this new player on the board was. Zod was down, weakened and Ra's had the Kryptonite sword.

'_We'll see who kneels now,' _Ra's stated as he summoned what strength he could, Zod's neck now exposed and primed for the kill.

**To Be Continued in Part Two. **


	29. Chapter 29: Power Struggle Part Two

**Chapter Twenty Nine "Power Struggle Part Two."**

Clark was knocked around by the Kryptonite whips that cut and sliced into his skin. He staggered and dropped to a knee as he tried to scramble back to a standing position. The Last Son of Krypton was trying to force himself to face his enemy but it was harder than he thought. He felt the blood pour from the wound in his cheek. He placed his finger on his cheek and wiped the blood off, a frustrating grimace flickering through his eyes. Determination was not something the Last Son of the House of El lacked.

Pain was not an element he lacked either, as Kryptonite brass knuckles, two pairs, one on both hands, were introduced into the occasion. Several of Zod's minions were knocked down.

Clark tried to grab his attacker but Downfall was faster and a beam of energy shot out knocking him down. He skidded across the ground and every single nerve in his body exploded with more pain than he'd ever knew.

"Now, it's time," Downfall commented as the attack raised the whips but a magical grip surrounded them and pulled backwards hard sending Downfall flipping to the ground.

Arcane showed up, going face to face with Downfall.

"So, it's you," Arcane commented as he tried to attack Downfall but a shield appeared around the attacker to block Harry's attack. "Lose the mask, Alexandra."

Downfall offered a slight smile beneath the mask, even though it couldn't be seen by Harry, who had a feeling he was being punished for pulling a similar stunt in another life. The emerald eyes of Harry Potter flickered with annoyance as he tried to send out a bolt of light at her.

She dodged the first and then she reflected a second attack back at him. Downfall kept pivoting, sticking, moving, and dancing around his attacks. Her eyes widened in amazement as she ended up behind Arcane.

Arcane jabbed his hand at the ground hard sending out a shock wave which caused Downfall to fall head over heels to crash hard with the ground.

"Can't hurt you, so I'll damage the ground underneath you," Harry told his enemy as he conjured an energy scythe.

Zod rolled over, still stunned by the Kryptonite that was flooding the tunnel. He saw Ra's down on the ground and the Demon Head's hand scrambled towards the blade.

The Major countered by picking up a sword that had been left upon the ground.

The sword and the knife clung together as the two tried to push back and forth against each other. Sparks started to fly.

"You won't possess it," Ra's growled, the ravages of age was causing him to lose ground in the fight but the ravages of Kryptonite caused Zod equal problems, so the fight was more than even. The two of them continued their battle.

In one last desperate gambit, Zod reared his leg back and kicked the knife out of the hands of Ra's. It cause a stabbing pain in his foot but it was fleeting and since the knife was out of arm's reach, he was able to grab Ra's and hurl him to the floor.

Ra's landed with a bone shattering thud, as two of Zod's guards walked over. The Major stood above Zod and turned to his men.

"Guard him, I'll find out if this pit increases my powers," Zod commanded.

As Clark was knocked out on the ground Downfall and Arcane circled each other, trading energy attacks back and forth each attack increasing in intensity as the fight progressed. Though neither able to get much of an upper hand on the other.

Harry pushed hard towards his adversary.

"I don't wish to fight," Downfall commented and the emerald eyed wizard smiled as he fired back.

"Could have fooled me," Harry retorted to his adversary as he circled the individual that was trying to slash at him with the whips. Harry Potter's emerald eyes narrowed as he kept trying to find his way to get around this enemy. "I don't know what I've done to you, Alex, but I'm sick of it, sick to death of it, and I'm going to force the issue."

The mask was coming off, one way or another. Even if it had to tear it off with his bare hands. Arcane and Downfall continued to do battle with each other, not caring that they stamped on Clark as they did so. The flashes of spell fire went back, and forth between the dueling pair as they continued to fight.

Zod broke into the pit chamber but a woman jumped on the back of his head. He shrugged her off like she was an annoyance.

Jade rolled over, her mask knocked off, her hood thrown back, and her hair in utterly disarray. Plus she chipped a nail but that was a minor annoyance. The assassin grabbed the Kryptonite dagger, she had one good shot on him, she'd better make it count.

"Hold her Basquet," Zod rasped as the large man grabbed Cheshire from behind. The young woman started to kick and twist out of his grip. The woman was pushed down to both knees and forced to kneel before Zod.

"Congratulations, this may be the first and last time you've made a woman kneel before you," Jade spat as she looked up at Zod with contempt, annoyed that she had been disarmed. The Major considered snapping the woman's neck for her disobedience.

A loud explosion resounded from outside which broke Zod's concentration. Downfall and Arcane flew into the chamber trading blows as their battle continued smashing hard into Zod in the process and sending him flying like a pinball to smash against the closest wall.

He made a mad dash to the pit but Harry, raising his hand, caused a shield to appear around it.

Zod screamed out in agony as he struck the shield. Every single bit of skin on his body felt like it was set on fire and the nerve endings of his body were rattled. The Major dropped to a knee and started to breath heavily as he turned to Harry.

Angrily, he fired his heat vision at Harry but he was behind Zod at super speed before he got hit.

Zod and Harry circled each other but Ra's was back in the battle. He was injured and he staggered towards the pit. He collapsed to the ground and Harry once again made sure the shield was up.

The half of a second that his head was turned around, Zod tried to stab him in the side with the Kryptonite dagger. Harry blocked it and pushed him back as the Herald of Death disarmed Zod.

Downfall slipped off into the night and Zod dropped to his knees, weakened severely, and completely drained, just as he heard Clark's footsteps.

"So this is what you've done, to your Kryptonian brothers and sisters!" Zod cried as he drew attention to the incriminating dagger in Harry's hand. "Well if you must, finish me, finish me now!"

Zod's expression twisted towards Harry. "FINISH ME!"

Harry wondered about Zod and suddenly, a blur shot out. There was a few seconds where Harry had no idea what precisely was happening around him but Zod was sprinted out of there.

If what happened, what he thought happened, well heads were about to roll.

Talia stepped forwards, walking with a slight limp.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked to Talia and the woman inclined her head.

"I'll survive," Talia informed him and she looked over the situation. "And you?"

"I'll be fine," Harry told her and Talia nodded.

* * *

"I can't believe that he was about to kill you in cold blood."

Zod looked up, as the remaining Kandorians stood around Clark, who had his head inclined.

"You saved me, when you could have left me there, once again, you have proven your worth, Kal," Zod stated as he expertly masked the cunning calculation in his eyes.

"I had to get you out of there…."

"And the Pit….it would likely have been destroyed, because it could be an equalizer, it might even the odds," Zod remarked.

"I remember the pit…."

"Yes, you were exposed to it," Zod told him, side stepping Clark and a smile crossed his face. "The power, it felt good, didn't it? It felt amazing, didn't it?"

Clark was not going to lie, rather he looked Zod in the eye and nodded. There was a sense when he was exposed to the pit, he was completely liberated. He saw Zod's wounds and the "D" that was carved into his shoulder. Zod noticed him looking and decided to clarify the significance of the mark.

"There was someone who has called themselves Downfall who attacked me, killed my men," Zod remarked to Clark but then he decided to reach in and go for the kill. "I've seen it with my own two eyes, I know who it is, and the man beneath the mask is Harry Potter."

Clark wondered if Harry's Herald of Death powers had caused him to take a flying leap off the deep end. There were times where Zod could have betrayed him, yet he helped Clark out, even at the expense of his own life. He took a bullet for him, made sure that no harm came to him.

"I just can't believe it's gone this far," Clark remarked, his words tinged with disbelief.

"Believe it, Kal-El, believe it," Zod told him as he saw his hands, scarred and wounded from the battle at hand. He was not lying to this young man before him, not at all. A look of furious intensity flickered through his eyes as they traveled up and down the face of the Last Son of Krypton.

It was just that though, there had to be something more to this, something that he was missing but now, he could think of nothing. That was the most frustrating, the most extremely galling part of it all. His eyes were bloodshot as he kept thinking about the problems before him.

"You can't save them, Kal-El, you can't save them all," Zod informed the young man before him, shifting to show the extremely prominent scar on his shoulder.

Clark pondered about this and it was true, he had a savior complex of some sort, something that got him into trouble. He wondered if all that he did was worth it.

"I know what I could become but I know what you could become as well….your powers, they are very easy to corrupt, are they not?" Zod asked him.

"Yes," Clark remarked to Zod, wondering where this was going and there was a short time where Zod was silent, as if he was contemplating a great mystery in life that he was going to share with Kal. Silence reigned supreme.

"I'm not going to be a fool and indulge you on the fact that you might be fighting a losing battle, although I'm honestly astonished that your minders have not come here to tuck you into bed and read you a bedtime story, yet," Zod informed Kal and the young man wondered if he should reveal a certain new aspect to Zod.

He wondered if the thought that Clark had back up would prevent him from doing anything more drastic.

"They're….they're where you least expect them," Clark informed him and Zod raised an eyebrow a fraction of an inch but otherwise he said nothing.

"I would have assumed that they would not have let you from their sight but I guess they are more trusting then I believed," Zod commented to Kal and the two locked eyes. "We better move."

"To where?" Clark asked.

Zod thought about that. "This stronghold is compromised. And the temple….we cannot go back there. Not to mention the fact that your farm is swarming with people and Potter will know the moment that we get there."

Zod's contorted into a knowing smirk. He slowly reeled Clark into the net, like the big fish that he was. Soon he would have him in, the hook was in the mouth of the young man.

"What about your Fortress?" Zod asked to Clark.

There was a sense of dread that filled Clark and there was apprehension as he did not answer the question, at least not right away. There was a few seconds pause before he blurted out the next few words.

"It's gone….my mother thought that…."

"Lara had no right to do that," Zod informed Clark, and the man was seething that he lost a potentially valuable resource that he could utilize in his plans. "She had no right to do it at all."

Zod's expression boiled with frustration as he kept his mind on the prize at large and tried to think of an alternative. His men were dropping by the wayside, he was counting on that Fortress, and he knew that the League of Shadows, the Heralds, and this Downfall would be close behind.

* * *

Zod's plan was not going to fail, at least it was not going to fail this time. Confidence burned through his mind as the Kandorian major made his way forward. The rest of the soldiers followed him to the area where he was sure that there was one final pit.

"You will not get your hands on the Pit, Zod."

Talia stood in front of him, her arms folded. Her father had disappeared and she had no idea what happened to him. Yet, she was not going to allow a known psychopath like Zod, a man who had many killed in his mad experiments to restore his powers, which made him far worse in some respects than anything else she had ever seen. She clapped her hands and a few members of her Elite Guard, all made of females, stepped in front of her to block Zod.

"Do you really want to tempt fate," Zod questioned as Talia's expression contorted into a brief smile as she was handed a sheath.

"I see, that you already have, those scars on your face, some of them look fairly nasty, Major," Talia informed him, a wicked grin filling the woman's face as she continued to survey Zod, taking in every inch of him. She could tell that the Major was not about to stop, not when he was close to his goal. "It would be a pity….a true pity….if anything were to happen to you."

"You think that you could defeat me, that's quaint," Zod told the woman but he felt the stinging sensation of the scars that were not healing. He reached forward and touched his flesh, feeling the blood that could be drawn at any second.

"I don't think, I know I can," Talia informed him, a few seconds where she smiled and tapped her hand on the sheath as she produced a sword.

The sword blade was made completely of Kryptonite, tailor made to deal with Zod . She stared at him as the Kandorians stepped back as Talia, Jade, and her Elite Guard swooped around her.

"It's over, Zod," Talia remarked as she jabbed the sword towards him. "Why don't you kneel?"

Zod's eyes flared with anger as he was told by this woman to kneel before her. This filled him with anger as he reached towards her but Talia dodged the attack and her guard tossed several Kryptonite daggers.

Several of the Kandorians collapsed to the ground as they were impaled through the heart.

Clark appeared at that next second and he grabbed Talia around the waist, then with another motion he sprinted her away. She managed to get one cut in on him before she was disarmed by him. The Kryptonite sword caused him misery but he kept rushing her off. His hands were covered with blisters as he kept running. He closed his eyes, breathing in and out heavily as he deposited his enemy down to the ground.

Clark shifted back to the fight dropping to his knees after he returned but once again Downfall appeared in front of him.

"You were given a chance," Downfall told Clark as the figure waved a hand and electrified Kryptonite whips shot out towards him but he ducked and rolled. The Last Son of Krypton was avoiding the attacks as they slashed out at him. "You've thrown your hat in with Zod."

"You're not the one who is being betrayed here, Harry," Clark managed as he grabbed Downfall but Downfall knocked him to the ground.

Suddenly, Harry flew out from out of nowhere like spinning like a cork out of a bottle and speared Downfall into the ground.

The impact of magical energy echoed from all around and raising to their feet Downfall and Harry circled each other once more. Harry's eyes narrowed with a great intensity flickering within them as he lifted up a dagger before he threw it.

Downfall deflected it.

Clark looked up and saw Downfall and Harry in the same place, at the same time, and now he did not know what to believe. The two circled each other and continued their fight, the flashes of mystical energy surrounding them.

Zod had fought his way through to the temple and he was going to access the pit. Malice and greed flickered through his eyes.

He came face to face with the Ra's Al Ghul who was not ready to go down, at least not yet.

"Stand back or I will force you back," Zod commented as Ra's stood to his full height with a smile on his face throwing his cloak off to the side he fell backward into the pit with his arms extended to the side landing within it with a splash.

Zod waited and watched what would happen. He saw that there was a different fluid in this pit than there was in the other one. Now the Kandorian's mind was racked with nerves as he considered the possibilities.

"I SEE THE POWER CLEARLY!"

Ra's rose from the pit with bulging muscles and bloodshot glowing green eyes that where narrowed in his fury as he stepped out of the pit and prepared to face his enemy. He cracked his knuckles together followed by his neck and advanced upon Zod.

Zod stood face to face and he made his way towards the pit. Super speed was something that gave him an advantage but it put him into the grip of Ra's.

"Now, with the serum infused in the pit, I'm strong enough to destroy you," Ra's commented loudly as he wrapped his hand around Zod's throat and slammed him hard into the closest wall. His underlings said that it was dangerous and it could kill him but he decided that he would be the one to determine whether or not it was worth the risk. He leaned forward so close that Zod would be able to feel his breath, his eyes locked on the Major's.

Zod was desperate enough to do something insane in order to escape the Demon Head's hold on him and his eyes lit up before he sent the heat vision towards Ra's Al Ghul. Ra's dodged, but the heat vision connected with his shoulder burning his skin but the power and the adrenaline running through him kept him from feeling any pain.

Talia watched her father, and came to the conclusion that he'd gone mad. She was scared out of her mind as she saw her father's eyes flare with complete madness. Her dark hair framed her face as she kept her green eyes upon her father and her mouth hung open as she took a step towards him, her heart thumping within her chest. She wondered what would happen next.

A hand found Talia's throat and Ra's had her in his grasp, Zod down on the ground and forgotten.

"You've disappointed me, daughter," Ra's growled as he choked Talia down to her knees.

Cheshire dove in and climbed on Ra's back, raking her finger nails into his eyes.

Downfall and Arcane circled each other as the sounds of battle continued inside the temple. Clark was on his knees and Harry noticed him in his peripheral vision as he kept his eyes locked firmly on Downfall. He had a good guess what the last Son of Krypton was thinking as he kneeled there watching in disbelief.

"She's not me," Harry told Clark and Clark's eyes turned towards Harry.

There was an urge to wrap his hands around his throat and snap his neck violently, viciously. He could not wait to make Harry pay for anything.

There was a small and rational part of his mind that kept him from doing so and Downfall sent her whips at Clark and Harry.

Harry dove over her head and grabbed the mask.

He was able to pull the mask off but before he could get a look at the face underneath, Downfall vanished with a pop. He held the mask within his hands but he had been unable to see her face.

Harry would worry about that later, right now there was trouble.

'_I….fuck someone modified the Lazarus Pit,' _Harry thought as he moved forwards into the temple and he could feel the strong temptations of the pit.

It was calling to him, telling him to jump into the pit. The pits were power that could cause him to grow stronger, that could be beyond everyone else. It was the key to healing his mind, making him ultimate again.

The screams of Talia being shaken around by her father, along with Harry's strong will power brought him out of his thoughts. He saw Ra's lift his arms up but Harry rushed in and slammed his hand.

The magical energy erupted through the rock he was holding and the backlash knocked Ra's down.

Zod was very nearly to the pit before a Kryptonite arrow struck him between the shoulder blades. He staggered to the ground and he felt agony course through his body. His eyes became even more bloodshot as he staggered around. His hands grew increasingly numb as he tried to pull the arrow from his back.

Ra's suddenly grabbed him by one of his hands and slammed his other into Zod's chest driving the breath from him, before hoisting him up and slamming him down.

Zod's eyes blinked open and his heat vision shot forward. It ricocheted off the walls and landed in the liquids in the pit.

An explosion resounded around them and there were the flames that shot up from the pit. There were screams of terror that echoed around them and Ra's found the serum's healing properties fade.

If he thought that things could not get any worse, he was wrong, he was surrounded by a ring of fire, the flames licking at him. He screamed out loud in agony.

A few of the Kandorians stepped in and picked up the wounded Zod, before carrying him out of there. Zod's arms flailed from one side to the next as they carried him away.

Harry saw the wounded Talia and Jade. He knew who his first priority was to save. He grabbed one girl underneath one arm and one girl underneath the other arm as he sprinted them off in the other direction.

Ra's was on his hands and knees as the flames surrounded him. He felt burns all over his body but he refused to go down. He looked up to see his men watching him.

"Save me!" Ra's yelled at them as flaming chunks of rock slammed down onto him. He screamed out loud as he tried to break himself free from the temple but he would not be saved by anyone. Even Ubu turned his back and walked away from him.

He screamed out loud as the flames consumed him as he tried to struggle his way out of there.

* * *

"You had the chance and you blew it."

Clark's eyes swam with frustration and he was on the astral plane with Jor-El. His ribs were tender and sore as he kept watching his enemy. The Last Son of Krypton could not even begin to determine what was happening.

"I had….what are you talking about?" Clark asked Jor-El as he tried to shake the cobwebs from his head.

"I've told you how dangerous Harry Potter was but you've failed," Jor-El remarked as he stepped towards his son and for a brief second, Clark thought he was going to strike him. He would not be surprised with his father, after all this time. His expression did not falter for a second and his heart kept pounding against his ribs. His breathing became harsh and for a second, he thought that he was going to struggle to catch it.

"I….he wasn't Downfall," Clark protested but Jor-El stood on the ground and gave a nasty glare that indicated he could not believe his son would be that naïve.

"He wasn't Downfall, but he could be behind it," Jor-El commented to him and the Last Son of Krypton stood towards his father, disbelieving and his head arched towards him. "He is behind it, don't even think for a moment that he isn't."

Clark was not sure. The Last Son of Krypton pondered the situation in his mind and things were getting even more intense.

"Hey Clark!"

Clark once again found himself back on the farm and he realized that he had been standing there for a long time. Hermione stood next to Clark.

"Hermione," Clark remarked calmly.

"You look like you zoned out for a moment," Hermione told him. She looked up and down at him. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"I'm surprised the four of them didn't come after me," Clark said to Hermione but the witch's smile spread over her face.

"Well, I figured that you need a chance to prove yourself so I took care of them for you," Hermione commented as she tapped her wand on the palm of her hand. It was what Alex suggested, to assert herself as Clark's number one, so she could complete her mission.

Hermione owed Alex a life debt, Alex found a way to restore Hermione's magical abilities and found a way to restore the magical abilities of every single other witch that has been brought back to life. The only person who refused to join was Rose, who slipped out into the night after they had saved her from the Kandorians.

"Do you know if Harry Potter is Downfall?" Clark asked.

Hermione paused but then she shook her head.

"You're covering for him, aren't you?" Clark asked Hermione with narrowed blue eyes and Hermione's hands found her hips, as she got defensive.

"Harry and I….were friends, but that was another lifetime ago," Hermione remarked as she turned away from him. "He's gone down his own path and I'm not sure if it's the best thing for him. He's not mentally stable anymore."

Clark was about to ask what that meant, he figured that if he could get an insight on Harry, it would be from Hermione.

She disappeared with a pop.

"WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON THAT WITCH BITCH, I'LL STRANGLE HER!"

Clark winced and he saw Lois staggering out of the house, followed by Raya, Lana, and Alicia. It must have been something bad to see Lana and Alicia standing side by side, without any complaint.

"Where is she Clark?" Lois asked.

"I have no idea who you're talking about, Lois," Clark remarked and Lois reached forward as she grabbed Clark by the shoulders and slammed him hard against the barn.

"There, did that knock a reminder into your head?" Lois asked him. "The brunette, bushy hair, the one that walked into the barn earlier, and you went off to do god knows what."

"I didn't do anything….we just talked," Clark protested and Lana sighed.

Somehow, she believed that. From what Harry mentioned, Hermione might be the only person in the world that might be more sexually repressed than Clark was.

So maybe they were soul mates.

Lana shook her head, fairly amused at the thought but there was another amusement that filled her and that was Lois trying to shake down Clark for everything that he was worth.

"No one like that, just talks," Lois remarked to Clark and Clark corked an eyebrow. "Don't you dare give me that look Smallville and you better tell me where she was, really quick."

Clark had to say it.

"She disappeared into thin air it…."

"I swear if you say it was just like magic I'll send you to the moon."

Clark smiled, he didn't say that, although he was thinking it.

* * *

"So how are you feeling?"

Harry asked this question with all candid honesty and Talia's eyes turned towards him, a wide smile crossing her face before she answered him honestly. Her arms and legs were all scratched up as she pushed herself back and stretched. There was some residual pain that ran through her, but other than that, she was good to go.

"I've had….well I think we've already gone through this," Talia commented.

Harry saw that she was dressed in a white tank top that stretched around her ample breasts. Her toned stomach was shown off and she had beautiful legs that were currently uncovered. She wore a black pair of panties that wrapped around her crotch and she turned towards him with a hint of desire flashing through her eyes.

"I wish….I wish to thank you," Talia told him as she winced and Harry calmly reached off to the side and picked up a vial of potion.

"There this should help you," Harry remarked and Talia's expression watched Harry. There was a tentative amount of distrust on her voice. "Trust me, Talia, I know…"

"No, it's just…my father warned me to be careful," Talia remarked as she rubbed her side and then the woman took the potion vial into her mouth, drinking it down in two gulps. "There are….there are just some things where he should have followed his own advice with."

"I'd imagine that, get some rest and I'll be back later," Harry remarked to her and no sooner did he walk out of the room, a pair of strong hands grabbed him around the shoulder.

He was face to face with Cheshire, her face uncovered, her beautiful skin and alluring eyes staring back at him. Her hair framed her face as she rammed her tongue down his throat, in an attempt to choke him out with it. Her hands were reaching for his belt and she pulled it off, in the hallway.

"So….that was," Harry stated but Jade attacked him, kissing him once more and biting firmly on his lip. He reached between her legs and felt her pussy damp for him.

Yes, she was ready to go and she pulled his shirt off. The next thing he knew, he was dressed in nothing but a pair of boxer shorts from the waist down.

"You saved my life and I'm not accustomed to being in the debt of others," Jade commented as she fished her hand down his pants. "And I think that I'm going to enjoy this, as much as you are."

Jade got down on her knees to worship her new god and pulled his pants down to reveal his throbbing length pulsing out for her.

"You'll find that assassination is not the only skill that I employ," Jade commented to him in a lustful purr as she bent down.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

* * *

Metropolis was quiet tonight and there was a chill wind that run through the city streets. There was a calmness that ran through the air as everyone went home from a very long day at work or school.

The Shining Light Foundation stood in the middle of it.

A large and stooping figure wearing an overcoat and Fedora stepped forward. He was surrounded by a trio of scantily clad women. He walked forward and reached a gloved hand towards the door knob. With super human strength, he pulled it open.

This was not the Shining Light Foundation but it was right across the street. He walked inside the lab and saw the chemicals on the table. There was a smile crossing his face. Tapping on the table, the figure in the overcoat swooped in and picked up the vials of the chemicals in his hand.

"And, stealing, once again, somehow I'm not surprised.

There was a figure who moved in, with a red and yellow blur and a hint of red hair flowing from the other side of the mask.

"You," the figure growled from beneath the overcoat and his henchwomen stood nervously as their pursuer began to run circles around them.

"Yes, me, it's always me."

The individual stopped, and she skidded to a stop. She had long flowing red hair that was tied back with a ponytail, to prevent her hair from hitting her in the face as she was at super speed. The outfit was red with a yellow lightning bolt. The material wrapped snugly around her body, although a tight outfit was best from maintaining super speed.

"You're a long way from Central City, Flash," the overcoat summarized.

"And you're a long way from your cage, Grodd," the Flash commented with a smile across her face.

Underneath the mask, she was Iris West, the fastest woman alive and she stood ready to fight one of her greatest enemies. His name was Grodd, he was one of the roughest enemies in the world, with an intellect that was superior to many out there. He had caused her a fair number of headaches in the past and put many lives in danger.

She had put him behind bars but he had not stayed for all that long.

There was one thing about him that made him unique beyond all criminals.

He was a large talking gorilla.

**To Be continued in the next chapter "In a Flash."**


	30. Chapter 30: In a Flash

**Chapter Thirty: In a Flash**

Iris calculated all of the problems around her and how to solve them. Given her super speed powers, it gifted her with many abilities, including a super powerful mind.

"Dispose of this annoyance," Grodd stated as he waved towards his mind controlled minions and they charged Iris.

Iris sped out of the way and the two women shocked each other with cattle prods in their attempt to get at her. She knew that these might be drones, but there was more than a few women in the past that went with Grodd willingly. She shuddered at the thought but it still resounded through her mind. The gorilla had a way with the ladies.

"Get her, get her, I'll get them," Grodd remarked.

Iris had to stop Grodd before he attempted another one of his bimonthly "Turn everyone into the world into gorilla schemes." Or at least tried it again, she could not even begin to think of all of the times where he pulled that one out of his hairy ass.

She shuddered once more at the mental image that she gave herself but the fastest woman alive had to focus. She circled her adversaries, creating a wind storm around her and sending her enemies flying to crash against each other.

The impact caused them to fall head over heels onto the ground. Iris bounced off of the walls and sped back and forth as she tried to get in an attack. As well as dodging a series of attacks made by the cattle prod wielding wenches.

Then, Iris saw another man with dark hair come in fast. To the normal eyes, he would be some indistinguishable blur but to her eyes, he appeared clearly, in fact kind of slow from her perspective. Two of the women were taken down, as another woman with dark hair and dark features appeared next to him.

"So, have any idea who these guys are?" Lana asked as she eyed them carefully.

Clark dodged the attempted attack and grabbing the staff from his enemy's hands he hurled her to the ground.

Grodd was not happy with this young man getting involved. It was bad enough that the Flash followed him all the way to Metropolis but now this….this was even more frustrating.

He grinned as he sensed his mind and his thought patterns, they were rather fragmented and easy to manipulate. The other one might have been too but this one was rather weak in the mind.

'_Yes, you're mine,' _Grodd stated as he locked onto the mind of Clark and pushed himself into it to exert his stronger will power.

Clark dropped to his knees and screamed out loud, as it felt like his head was about to explode from the piercing agony. His eyes closed tightly as his clenched his head in his hands rocking it back and forth as he dropped to his knees.

'_No…no,' _Clark panted.

'_Yes,' _Grodd stated as he had his hooks into Clark. _'Stop her, stop the Flash, give me the distraction that I need.'_

'_Oh….yes, I will,' _Clark commented as his mind became completely relaxed and susceptible to suggestion.

His eyes started to glow and heat vision shot towards Iris.

The fastest woman alive dodged the attack and was utterly confused by why this individual attacked her, at least until her mind kicked in and she saw that Grodd was in the background, preparing himself. The redheaded woman rushed around in a blur.

Lana saw that Clark took complete leave of his senses and blocked his heat vision with her hand.

Sure it stung a little bit but given her own invulnerability, she could honestly handle it. The young woman turned her head around slightly to focus and she fired off a beam of heat vision towards Clark.

'_Clark wake up, snap out of it, snap out of it!' _Lana projected at him frantically but Clark's eyes had a dazed glassy eyed look to them. The young woman was about ready to knock him back but he fought back towards her.

Kara showed up out of the blue and punched Clark in the back of the head at super strength. The impact would have killed a normal man but it caused Clark to snap out of the mind control.

"Cool, I get to punch out another monkey," Karen commented as she popped up next.

Grodd's anger was escalating. "MONKEY!"

Grodd picked up the desk and with a feral rage, threw it at Karen but Harry dove in front of her and waved his hand. The desk exploded into numerous toothpicks and scattered to the ground. The dark haired wizard pushed himself around and levitated the toothpicks into the air before sending them flying as a distraction so he could disarm Grodd's remaining minions.

"Man, that's one pissed off chimp," Lois commented as she turned up.

"CHIMP!" Grodd remarked as he picked up a chair but Lois pulled it out of his hands.

"Hey, Curious George, take a seat," Lois commented as she nailed Grodd in the face with it, as Iris ran around him, kicking up a blinding cloud of dust.

"Yeah, he's a rather prideful primate," Iris commented.

'_Well I guess Bart's not the only speedster in town,' _Chloe thought to them.

'_Much easier on the eyes as well,' _Harry responded to her.

'_No complaints there, none at all,' _Kara remarked.

Grodd flew out the window but he had an escape plan. He saw the Police on the street in front of him having been brought to the lab by the silent alarm and he exerted his mind control over them.

'_I want a barricade, surround them,' _Grodd commented as he directed the group at them

The police made their way to surround them as Grodd leaped up to the top of the closest building and pulling a laser out of the bag over his shoulder he fired, causing pieces of debris to fall towards the police that were stationary below.

This forced Arcane, Supergirl, and Power Girl to save everyone. The trio of Heralds keeping the rubble from crushing them beneath.

Grodd had slipped away, as well as their mysterious female speedster. This caused everyone to become confused but there was no one who was more confused then Clark. He had a throbbing headache which made him feel like his head had been ripped apart and he turned to face Lois and Lana.

"So….what happened?" Clark asked.

"You blacked out," Lois remarked to him as she pressed her hand onto her cheek and viewed Clark, looking straight into his eyes to check for residual mind control traces.

"Yes, but…what happened?" Clark asked as he rubbed the back of his head.

"We'll tell you about it later," Lois remarked and Clark had a strong desire to attack Harry while he was there, along with Kara and Karen should they get in his way.

If their loyalties did not lie with him, then Clark would have to take them all down. He was the son of the foremost mind in all of Krypton's history and should be respected. No one should be able to tell him what to do, for he was Kal-El, the savior of this planet. All would kneel before him.

* * *

The Daily Planet was the central hub of information in the city, even though the newspaper business was about to fall rather far thanks to recent changes in how media was presented to the world. Harry was happy with the gains that were made during the previous quarter but he was not head over heels excited about them. The green eyes of Harry Potter swam with intensity as he thought about his plans for expansion. He was about ready to move to the next step and he entered the office with Kara tagging alongside him.

'_I'm worried about Clark,' _Kara thought to him.

'_I've been worried about him for years,' _Chloe remarked as she prepared to meet them at the Daily Planet. _'His issues tend to have issues and I say that as his friend.' _

'_It's….tough, I was sent here to help him but there was a lot of damage already done and he's gotten worse since, nothing I've done to help seems to have worked either even though I've tried every stopgap,' _Harry remarked to them. He was about to do something even more drastic but his better nature held him back from doing so.

'_He has been cracked since he went inside the Pit and coming back from the dead didn't help,' _Karen remarked as she shook her head. _'Do you think that future is going to happen?'_

'_I don't know, I really don't know, I refuse to believe that the future is set in stone,' _Harry commented to them mentally. _'But even if it isn't, we still have to figure these things out and prepare for the absolute worst.'_

'_Words to live by,' _Lois thought to them as she greeted Chloe outside.

"Hey, Chloe, Harry, Kara, and Karen, how are you doing?" Lois asked them.

"Never better," Harry remarked to her.

'_Wish I didn't have to deal with this situation and Zod's gone underground, what is his next move?' _Harry thought to them.

"Yeah, we're doing pretty good," Chloe commented to her. "How's Clark?"

"He was going to follow up on a lead," Lois remarked.

'_After today, he needs to cool down,' _Lois thought to them._ 'Although he'll be back before too long.' _

'_Well we're find a way to keep him in line,' _Lara remarked as she cut in from the farm. _'Raya is trying to figure out what happened to him, she's ensuring that he doesn't stray too far.'_

"Well that's good, I hope that you're going to earn your paycheck," Harry remarked to Lois and Lois's expression flickered into a smile.

"Oh, believe me Potter, I earn my paycheck, always,' Lois remarked as she switched back to the mental conversation.

'_I just wish that I could find a way to knock Clark back into line,' _Lois thought to him. The dark haired woman closed her eyes and smiled deeply as she thought about it. _'Some days it's hard to get out of bed but….life without a few challenge, what's….life without it?'_

'_It isn't worth it,' _Harry remarked to her as a grin crossed his face.

"That's good, because the Planet will be undergoing some changes to keep up with the rest of the world," Karen remarked and Lois's corked an eyebrow towards her. "We're expanding our coverage into television media and starting a blog as well."

"Who's running the blog?" Lois asked in a curious tone of voice.

Chloe answered that question with a smile. "You're looking at her."

Lois's eyebrow raised even further before she remarked with a smile crossing her face. "That's great, Chlo, I'm so happy for you."

"I'm glad as well, it gives me something to do in between babysitting the next generation of heroes….oh, hello Miss West," Chloe remarked as the redhead showed up.

The group spun around to see the redhead standing behind them. She had long shoulder length red hair along with a beautiful face that was made for televised media and brown eyes that flashed towards them. She wore a purple business suit jacket and a black skirt, along with black boots.

"Iris West, the newest member of the media division of the Daily Planet, she came in through Centrl City," Harry remarked as he turned towards them. "Iris, this is Lois Lane."

"Miss Lane, please to meet you," Iris commented, the twenty five year old reporter extended her hand forward and Lois took it, shaking her hand. The two of them locked eyes for a few seconds and stared each other down.

"The pleasure is all mine," Lois remarked with a smile of her own as she kept her expression turned towards the woman before her. "So you're part of Harry's inevitable plot to take over the world."

"I wouldn't quite put it that way, Lois," Harry remarked as he smiled. "But, everyone across the Daily Planet is going make more money and they'll also bring more news across the world."

"Your vast business empire is getting bigger through, a partnership with LuthorCorp, deals with Wayne Industries and Ferris Air, the skies the limit," Chloe remarked and Iris nodded.

"Yeah, Carol mentioned you to me when she was back in town for a little bit a few days ago," Iris commented and Harry raised an eyebrow. "Old roommates in college, well for about nine months, but we forged a friendship. Our fathers knew each other as well, so that helped push us together."

Iris stated this with a smile as she gave Harry a quick look over. She liked everything that she saw so far.

"Nothing but the best reviews about you so far," Iris remarked as she placed a hand on her hip and there was a wide smile on her face that got even wider. "I'm sure that I'll live up to your expectations."

"I hope so, although everything won't be ready to get started for another few weeks," Harry remarked as he turned around. "I'm looking for someone to help run the day to day operations with the television media division."

"Well good look in finding a sap at doing that," Lois remarked.

Harry smiled at her. "Actually I was hoping that sap would be you, Lois."

Lois raised an eyebrow. "Me….me…what….I don't know."

"Well you're driven, willing to work hard to get the job done," Harry stated to her as he listed off some of her best qualities point by point and Lois smiled at this review. "Not to mention the fact that you're good at bossing people around."

"I don't boss people around," Lois remarked crossly as she turned around and barked to a random office underling. "Hey, you, get me a coffee, double time, and don't overload the sugar!"

Harry smiled, his point was well taken.

"Well, you picked the best person," Iris commented as she walked around the office with Harry, Kara, and Karen, showing her around. "I'm just happy to be part of something."

"So did you move here alone or what?" Karen asked curiously.

"Well, I took in my nephew about a year back, he's a teenager, you know how most of them are," Iris commented as she walked down the hallway. "Wally's the epitome of the term, brilliant, but lazy."

"Well, that describes me in school to a tee," Harry remarked to Iris and she smiled.

"He could have been out of High School by now if he'd buckle down, he's got the brains to graduate early," Iris remarked.

She hoped that her nephew wouldn't try to duplicate the accident that gave her, her powers in an attempt to get them for himself. He kept asking if she was in the market for a sidekick, at least Iris hoped that it was a joke.

"So anyway here is where you get the coffee, here is the room where all the office drones hang out, and….well this is the central area which is a madhouse, news flies through there faster than a speeding bullet," Harry explained to Iris as he continued to show her around. "Since I got here, I made sure to have donuts and coffee catered every morning."

"For some reason, people work a lot better with them," Kara remarked and Iris's smile crossed over her face.

"You are a hero to many," Iris commented as the tour continued.

* * *

"We have a problem coming in through the grapevine," Chloe commented as she leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms. She wished she could smile about everything that was going on around her but the smile would have forced.

Zatanna and Diana stood in the background.

"What kind of a problem?" Diana asked her, as two of the top members of the Justice League.

"Oh, a prison break in Belle Reve," Chloe remarked as she clicked her mouse around and Clark turned up behind her. "Clark, nice of you to show up."

Clark smiled and answered the unasked question.

"I'm here to prove that I can handle business," Clark told her and Chloe smiled, giving him an extremely prominent, "good for you look" before she clicked through what she was looking at. "So….what do you need from me?"

"I'm not sure if you should be involved," Chloe remarked as she clasped her hands over the desk.

"Why shouldn't I be involved?" Clark demanded, trying to keep his patience. "You should respect me for all of the things that I've done."

Out of respect, Chloe let this one slide, plus she wasn't in the mood to have an argument.

"Okay, you've copped an attitude lately," Chloe said as she turned around and took a close look at the screen before her. "Ever since….it's Zod, he's playing with your head."

"Zod is nothing compared to me," Clark remarked with a smile on his face.

"You didn't jump red long into the RedK again, please tell me you didn't jump headlong into the RedK again," Chloe commented and he reached towards Chloe but Diana grabbed him around the arm and spun him around.

"She needs to learn some respect," Clark remarked and Diana's eyes focused onto Clark's.

"I heard some appraising things about you, but you're acting like everything you're supposed to be fighting against," Diana remarked as she kept her eyes locked onto Clark's. Clark's eyes stared a hole through Diana's head. The two of them did not back down a moment, stubbornly staring each other down.

Clark stood with a set jaw, he refused to dignify what he was doing to no one.

"Tell, Harry when he comes back, that I want a word with him, it's time he learned his place," Clark commented as he turned around and ran off.

'_Lana, please make sure he doesn't do something stupid,' _Chloe thought to her through the link.

'_I'll do what I can,' _Lana thought as Clark disappeared. _'Is he….FUCK!'_

'_What….fuck…what…what are saying that for?' _Chloe asked to Lana, surprised to see her use such a tone.

'_Well, Clark's disappeared around the corner,' _Lana thought as she tapped her hand on the side of her head.

'_I'm trying to get a visual in on him,' _Raya thought.

'_So….I'm informed that Grodd was in his head the other day, this gorilla, that messed with his mind,' _Lara remarked as she paused. _'I think he might have left an imprint on him.'_

'_And things have gone from really bad to outright sucking,' _Lois remarked as she wished for a desk to bang her head upon now. Sadly she was standing in the middle of the city, trying to find Clark. _'There is no way….he would have had to learn how to teleport or become invisible or something like that and neither of these powers are on Smallville's power sheet.'_

'_No, there aren't,' _Kara commented as she circled around the city. _'I'm trying to find him…using the computer.'_

'_Where's Harry in all of this?' _Lana asked.

Chloe meanwhile half paid attention to the conversation, she had other things to worry about and worry flooded through her mind.

"Grodd broke out some guests from Belle Reve," Chloe remarked.

"It's just a distraction."

Chloe turned around and saw Harry standing there in the shadows, with his arms crossed over his chest. She smiled and looked over her shoulder at him. "Wow, with that sneaky act, you could give Batman a run for his money."

Harry did not say anything, other than smiling, at least for the moment. "I do the best that I can."

"I'm sure," Chloe remarked to him as she drummed her fingers upon the desk. "So anyway, we've got a huge problem….as in a few people have snuck out….but you're saying that this is just a distraction."

"Bait for Grodd's master plan," a figure stated as they all turned around. Diana and Zatanna were taken off guard.

"And we have the other Blur, the one that's in Central City," Chloe remarked with a smile.

"Yeah, it's me, the Blur….I mean the Flash, fastest woman alive, although not when it counts," Iris commented as she surveyed Harry with a smile.

Despite the more hyperactive tone of voice in an attempt to hide her identity, Harry saw through it immediately. He was barely able to keep the smugness from crossing his face as he watched the woman, who tried to look, and act different.

'_Okay Iris, I'll play your game,' _Harry thought to her.

"And what is Grodd's master plan?" Chloe asked Iris, who nodded up and down quite quickly. The two of them smiled at each other.

"Well….you see….the last time he was around, he tried to turn everyone into Central City into gorillas. Actually that's all he ever really does," Iris commented as she reached into her bag and pulling out a sandwich she proceeded to chomp down on it. "Sorry fast metabolism, get hungry really easy."

And her hormones worked at super speed as well but that was another problem all things considered that she would have to deal with in time.

"That's….well that isn't the smartest plan in the world," Diana remarked.

"And by not smart, you mean completely stupid," Kara offered to Diana and Diana nodded.

"Well yes," Diana remarked to them both.

"Yes….it is….it is not that smart, stupid, yes, really stupid," Iris offered as she closed her eyes and tried to multitask in her own mind. "So we need to stop him because these meteor mutants….well some of them….not exactly a challenge given some of the rogues that I've went up against."

Iris thought with partial fondness and also partial annoyance of the rogues in her hometown of Central City. The fact of the matter was that going up against them was a bother and a half.

"So take a deep breath and think about what Grodd might do," Harry remarked to Iris and she nodded her head, putting a hand underneath her chin.

"Okay, Grodd, yes, Grodd," Iris but Chloe was going through the computer system.

"I think we've got it, there's a pattern here with the labs he's struck so far since he rolled into town and he should strike here," Chloe said as she pointed over to the screen and they all locked their eyes upon the screen, a plan formulating.

* * *

Clark shook his head, there was a ringing sound resounding throughout it.

"So, you're here."

Grodd turned around and went face to face with him as they were standing outside a lab.

"Where are they, where are the meteor freaks?" Clark asked to him and Grodd smiled.

"False report, it's very easy to manipulate a few guards to leak some false reports without lifting a finger," Grodd told Clark and Clark's eyes went glassy eyed. "Yes, I have a strength of will that is higher than most people, stronger than most people, and more importantly, my will is stronger than yours."

"Yes, it is," Clark managed as he kept his eyes locked onto Grodds but he shook his head.

There was a whisper that sounded like Jor-El trying to remind Clark to exert his mind properly, that he was someone of dominant power. There was no one who could stop him, not Grodd, not Zod, not Harry Potter.

"You're going to help me," Grodd remarked as he rubbed his hands together and motioned for Clark to step forward. He did so, though he dragged his feet the entire way. He was trying to block the mental attacks. "You're going to break through the vault and you're going to…."

Iris appeared and grabbed Clark, throwing him to the ground.

"You just can't leave me alone!" Grodd yelled as he charged her.

"Too slow," Iris commented and Grodd dodged around but another blur appeared around them.

Karen launched her fist into the face of Grodd and caused him to rocket up off to the ground and land hard with a sickening impact. Grodd rolled over, his vision blurred but he refused to go back down.

"You'll find that it's hard to get inside my mind," Karen remarked as she placed her hands on her hips and launched heat vision at Grodd.

Clark's eyes glowed as Grodd used him like a puppet and Karen's heat vision connected with him. His shirt was completely burnt off as Clark collapsed to the ground, clutching his chest in pain.

Karen looked around, she would be more sorry if she did not think that Clark could take it. She rushed in and Grodd once again manipulated Clark.

His hands grabbed Karen's as the two of them kept each other from moving forwards further, pushing each other back and forth. Both exerted their strength against each other, trying to gain a position that would be favorable.

Kara flew in while Grodd was distracted with Clark and Clark was distracted with Karen. The blonde smashed Grodd with a huge punch to the face and the gorilla landed on his back with a thump.

Harry waved his hands and exerted a field around them. There were flickers around them that popped to life and he craned his neck back.

"You're not going to stop me from doing what I need to do," Grodd growled as he reared his head back and lifted his arms.

"I'd imagine that I will," Harry remarked to Grodd and the two of them locked eyes onto each other.

Harry closed his eyes and pushed Grodd back. Both fighters circled each other, their mental attacks locked onto each other.

Clark was up and his eyes glowed, as Grodd tried to exert his will over him once more, but Kara grabbed him around the neck and hoisted him up out of harm's way. This was easier said than done with Clark kicking and flaying his legs all the way up. The blonde grunted as Karen grabbed onto his legs and both of them hoisted Clark up.

'_He's a lot stronger than I remembered,' _Karen thought to her bonded.

'_Something happened, we're going…..I don't know what I'm going….hold him please,' _Kara thought as she panted.

'_Sorry Clark, this is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you,' _Karen thought as she grabbed him around the shoulder and squeezed him.

Clark could barely hear what Karen said next, although he knew that there were two words and he was put down for the count. The two blondes knew that they had to get him out of there and keep him down until all of Grodd's mind control was purged from it.

"You will stop fighting me, you will kneel before me," Grodd growled as Harry circled around him, his heart thumping across his chest.

He raised an eyebrow before he said in a crisp tone. "Kneel before Grodd? So to add to your list of crimes today, you want to tack copy right infringement to it."

Harry dodged the attack but Grodd grabbed him.

"Get your paws off me, you damn dirty ape!" Harry yelled and Grodd was angered at being called the wrong primate once again. He was hurled around and right into a super fast punch by Iris.

Iris thought that she knocked Grodd out, although she would need to find a way to negate his mind control. He was never held for long, mostly because many of the times he was captured, he worked his way into the mind of one of the security guards and caused him to release Grodd.

"Think this should work," Harry remarked as he slipped the headband on Grodd and he felt an overwhelming burst of psychic static which dropped Grodd to his knees.

"What is it?" Iris asked in a curious tone of voice.

Harry decided to let her in on the news. "It's a neural disruptor; it should keep him from locking onto anyone and figuring out a way to control them."

She thought that was something that someone like Arcane would have whipped up.

"Amazing, as always," Iris remarked as she threw her arms around him in celebration.

She could not help herself, and her mischievous nature bubbled through.

.Iris leaned towards him and planted her lips upon his, stealing a quick kiss, before she sped off in the other direction.

Harry watched Iris leave as the kiss lingered.

'_Well you made the first play, but I always finish the game,' _Harry thought to himself as he switched through the bond link.

'_Clark's back at the farm, Lois, Lana, Raya, and Alicia are watching him, I gave him a mild sedative, hopefully his mind will return back to normal,' _Kara remarked in a breathless voice.

'_What passes for normal with Clark anyway?' _Karen thought as she shook her head.

'_Well….let's just hope he isn't going to give us any more issues,' _Kara thought, although she felt some level of stress regarding what her cousin was going through.

It seemed to be one set of disaster dominoes after the other and Harry gave her a reassuring statement through the link.

'_You did good, if he would have attacked me, I wouldn't hold anything back,' _Harry thought to her and Kara winced at the thought of what Harry could do to Clark if he was pushed.

'_Yeah….that's why I plucked him out of there before he would do anything stupid,' _Kara thought.

'_So, are you going to take care of your latest conquest?' _Lara thought and she added. _'As a failsafe, I've removed Clark's access to his powers for seventy two hours, until we're sure that the mind control is gone.'_

'_Good, and yes, I'll take care of her, now,' _Harry remarked through the bond link.

* * *

Iris was back at her Apartment, still dressed in full Flash attire, only with the mask on.

"Hello, Iris, you dropped your pen at the Planet."

Iris spun around and her heart went nearly went a mile a minute as she came face to face with the smug face of Harry Potter. She thought that she was going to lose her mind and her eyes locked onto the green eyes of the young man standing behind her. His expression was as casual as could be.

"Harry…it's…." Iris commented as she saw him eying her attire. "I suppose that you're too smart to go for the, I'm going to a costume party gag, aren't you?"

"It's good to see that you don't underestimate my intelligence, Iris, because I don't underestimate yours," Harry remarked as he took another step towards her, closing the distance. Iris's eyes fluttered shut after a few seconds and her heart started to beat against her chest as Harry was almost in her face.

Iris was not going to lie, she found herself quite bewildered by him and there was something else she noticed.

"So I guess you know my secret but….I think I might know yours," Iris remarked as she saw the lingering traces of lipstick on his lips. "Pretty gift from a pretty woman, guess I'm a sucker for keeping souvenirs," Harry remarked to Iris as he placed his hand on her side and the two of them locked eyes for a few seconds.

"You and my nephew would get along," Iris remarked, trying to make small talk. "So you hired me…."

"Because you had qualifications, but it seems like that you have needs," Harry offered and Iris raised an eyebrow. "As your boss, it would be a shame if I did not scratch your back a little bit. And you did good against the monkey out there. Although for some reason, he doesn't like being called that." "Well technically speaking he's not a…."

Harry's mouth found Iris's and the two of them enjoyed a nice and sensual kiss with each other. The redhead was pulled into an embrace, as Harry pulled her in close to him and watched her with a smile.

"Two young heroes like us….we need to unwind every now and then," Harry told her and Iris's head nodded up and down as she placed her hand on Harry's chest.

"So what do you have in mind?" Iris asked.

"I think we can relax after a nice day," Harry remarked as he grabbed the costume and peeled her slowly out of it.

It was the only time where Iris seemed to go slow but she allowed it and he pulled her into another panty soaking kiss. She tasted fire and it was sexual relief to say the very least as her pussy moistened at the thought of what he would be able to do. He slid his hand down her panties and played with her a tiny bit.

Iris moaned as she could hardly wait to see what else he could do with those hands and that mouth. All over her body and the horny redhead wrapped her legs around him as she allowed Harry to push her back on the bed and run his hands all over her body.

"I want you, now," Iris panted as she reached into his pants.

"And now you've got me," Harry remarked as she wrapped her hand around him.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

* * *

"Once again, you've done a great job Indy, I couldn't be more pleased with the work that you've put together," Tess said in an appraising tone and the younger redhead smiled.

"I aim to please," Indy commented with a smile that got wider. "Are you sure that the Kandorians….will not think that we've double crossed them?"

Tess was quick to alleviate the girl's fears. "Harry has gotten all of the resources from the Kandorian army. Zod and his lackeys, what remains of them, are like rats in a maze. They are going to be running around looking for cheese that doesn't exist."

LuthorCorp was undertaking one of it's biggest projects ever, seek and destroy the Lazarus Pits all around the world, so Zod and his cronies could not. Thanks to the help of Jade and Talia, they were able to locate most of them although Talia admitted that there were some resources that her father hid from even her.

"Zod's time as at an end," Tess remarked as she looked up.

"And we have other problems, regarding the other male Kryptonian," Harry said to Tess as he popped up behind her.

Tess greeted him with a quick kiss.

"His mind is fried," Harry told Tess and Tess blinked as she slowly asked a question that tried to alleviate her curiosity.

"Fried as in done, or fried as in….well you know,' Tess told him and Harry remarked back with a crisp smile.

"Fried as in, there's been a lot of damage done based on various things and….his father might have done something to him while he was trying to do the training," Harry remarked.

"So, is there any way to purge him of these things that have happened to him or are you going to have to take a drastic step?" Tess asked Harry and he smiled towards her. "As in, the drastic step."

"You mean….yes I know….this would be the ultimate abort mission but I don't want to do that unless there are no other options," Harry remarked as he sat down.

"Indy, you may go," Tess remarked and Indy nodded.

"Nice seeing you again Harry, I hope to see much more of you later," Indy remarked and she turned around.

There was a moment where Harry smiled.

"So how many more are you going to ensnare into your web before it's all over?" Tess asked Harry and the wizard responded with a smile before he told her.

"As many as necessary."

For some reason, Tess would not expect anything less from Harry. That was just the type of person he was, she always thought that he would have beautiful women around him.

"So, what are you planning on doing with Clark if he becomes a liability?" Tess asked. She always thought that all liabilities should be dealt with but it was obvious that Harry was not going to go that route, at least not yet. She could respect that, even though she could not one hundred percent get behind him all the way.

Harry had an answer.

"The Book of RAO."

Tess's eyes raised up. "So you figured out what it does?"

"It sends….it sends all those with Kryptonian descent to a brand new world, where they would be out of the way," Harry remarked as he turned towards Tess who spotted one fundamental flaw with his theory.

"And that includes you," Tess remarked to him.

"And that includes me or rather included me," Harry remarked and now Tess was interested to see what Harry had up his sleeve this time.

* * *

Indy made her way outside to her car. She was getting these weird headaches and flashes to a world that she had never been on. There was also Zod who had said that he would fix the programming to control it better but she could not remember much of anything. There were also moments where she attacked people that she knew, at least from her point of view.

"Indy Go, put your hands in the air where we can see them," a gruff voice stated behind her and she looked over her shoulder.

Suddenly, Indy screamed as she dropped to the ground and two goons grabbed her, dragging her off.

"This is the key to Zod's invasion, we must not allow it to fall in his hands," one of the hooded figures stated. "Checkmate will control this machine."

"Machine?" one of the parties remarked.

"This female contains trace elements that remains of a Kryptonian super computer," one of the Checkmate agents stated as he adjusted his glasses. "We will take her to the base and extract those components from her."

"Such a process could kill her," another agent protested.

"She's not a human, she's a machine, therefore she has no life to lose," the agent stated in a voice that lacked any trace of empathy. "She can't feel, she can't breathe, she's not alive. She's a computer that will serve Checkmate and eradicate the alien threat."

Indy was secured and thrown in the back of a van.

Downfall watched the scene, green eyes blaring from behind the mask.

"We've got a problem," Downfall said to a person on the other end of a radio.

Alex watched from afar as well, she was going mad, she had put a plan together, and nothing was going according to it.

**To Be Continued in the Next Arc. **


	31. Chapter 31: Persistance Part One

**Chapter Thirty One: Persistance, Thy Name is Downfall Part One. **

Lana's eyes flickered open as she had fallen asleep on the bench outside of the Kent Farm. Raya already sat out there, drinking a cup of coffee. Given that it was early, Lois was already at work and Alicia….well Lana had no idea where Alicia went.

"I don't know what happened after last night," Lana remarked to Raya.

Raya's expression turned into a pained grimace as she clutched her hands together. "I wish I could tell you….but I think that our charge suffered some kind of mental trauma."

Lana sighed, Clark just seemed to have all of the luck as she crossed her arms together and the dark eyes of the young woman flickered with a few seconds. She thought about everything that took place and realized that things were about going to get trickier than she could ever realize.

"Are you okay?" Raya asked.

"Don't worry about me, worry about Clark," Lana told Raya and the blonde woman inclined her head as she placed her hands on the side of her face.

"His father…had the greatest hopes for him and….he's kind of fractured," Raya remarked to Lana.

Lana did not say anything but she wondered how many of Clark's issues had to do with what Jor-El did. She had no idea what Jor-El might have done to him at the Fortress but she was pretty sure that something happened. It was not something that she could solve.

He was paranoid that Harry was out to get him, although there was a few seconds where she wondered how much of a point Clark had. Although Lana did recall that there was such a thing as a self-fulfilling prophecy. The more Clark pushed on this, the more it could be true.

"I wonder what if things are going to go back to the way they used to be," Lana remarked to Raya but also mostly to herself.

"Were things ever stable?"

Alicia asked this question as she turned up and her and Lana hand a tense moment. She offered Lana a donut and Lana took it, although she was nervously watching her. The two women eyed each other for a second.

"Don't worry, I didn't poison it," Alicia commented to her but then she added. "If I was going to kill you, I wouldn't do something so blatantly obvious."

Alicia smiled at this and Lana was nervous but she took a tentative bite of the donut. It passed the taste test.

Lara showed up at the Kent Farm and Lana, Alicia, and Raya turned towards her.

"Please tell me it's good news for once," Lana remarked as she placed her hands over her lap and watched Lara.

Lara's eyes kept watching them.

"Kal-El….has been put through the ringer," Lara remarked to the quartet of girls and all of them inclined their heads in nods. Their hearts beat steadily over their chests and both of them wondered what Lara was going to say.

"And by put through the ringer you mean…."

"I mean exactly what you think I might mean," Lara told them, she was not about to sugarcoat it for any of them. The blonde's hair framed over her face as butterflies flapped their wings into her stomach. She was just as worried about her son and her nerves kept heightening to the highest level.

The truth was she did not know if her son would ever be the same after all of this. The blonde's eyes kept following that of his minders.

"I'm not going to lie to you, there is a chance that Kal will need to be sent away for a long time so he can get his mind in order after all the stress and the trauma," Lara remarked to them.

"For how long?" Lana asked and Lara paused.

"There is not a timetable that should be put on something like this, his mind is fragmented and he could suffer from delusions that are based from a multitude of his issues," Lara explained to them and the girls nodded somberly. Things did not work out as planned.

"I feel that I've…."

"No Lana, for any one person to shoulder the blame would be foolish, given the domino effect that went off in Clark's head," Lara remarked.

There was a sound of a car pulling up the drive and Lana realized who this was immediately. She could have slammed her palm into her face. She nearly forgot about this today and she turned around towards the person approaching, a smile crossing her face.

"Mrs. Kent, welcome home!" Lana remarked as she stood up on her toes to see Martha arrive.

Of course now Lana was panicking because she could think of about four or five things that she needed to explain to Martha now. She was not sure if Clark clued her in on weirdness like Raya coming back to life or Alicia coming back to life or his birth mother's clone coming back to life.

Martha Kent lived in Smallville for years and raised a rather high strung super powered son, so naturally there were few things that caused her to raise an eyebrow. She had a few traces of grey in her hair but she looked pretty much the same that she did, dressed in conservative clothes.

"Lana….you know by now to call me Martha," Martha remarked as she stopped.

'_I see Clark's left some details out of his weekly phone calls with me, as in a lot of them,' _Martha remarked to herself. She took this in stride.

"I'm….Lara," Lara remarked as she reached towards Martha and shook her head.

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you," Martha remarked and she turned to Lana with a look that said that she wanted an explanation.

"Long story short, there was this orb where a bunch of Kandorians were cloned, and they were brought to life," Lana remarked.

Martha knew about this, she knew about many of the details about Clark's life. She also knew what Harry was planning on doing, to send Clark away with the rest of the Kandorians until he could get his head together. It was now time for him to do not was best for his destiny but do what he needed to do to for his own mental health.

At first, she was skeptical but realized that Clark suffered some rather prominent trauma over the past few years and it was just getting worse for him. Martha shuddered as she thought about it.

Speaking of Clark he turned up, with Lois behind him.

"Hey, Clark, long time no see."

Clark spun around and came face to face with Perry White.

"Mr. White….it has been a long time," Clark remarked as he faced the man at the edge of the driveway, carrying a suitcase.

"Me and Perry got together a few months ago," Martha remarked and she decided to clarify as Clark raised an eyebrow. "As friends, I had to get him out of a spot of trouble."

"Yeah, wish I could say this is a pleasure trip but I'm here on business, apparently a friend of yours wants to speak to me about a matter involving his plans regarding the Daily Planet," Perry commented. "You know, Harry Potter."

"Yes, I do know Harry Potter," Clark stated, trying to keep his voice calm and his temper even. He knew Harry all too well.

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. White," Lois remarked, nearly tripping over herself to meet a real legend like Perry White. Sure he hadn't done much of anything in years, his career hit the skids but years ago he was the man. "Lois Lane, I'm a reporter, also head of the Daily Planet's new television division."

"Wait, time out, since when did the Daily Planet have a television division?" Clark asked. He must have missed the memo about this.

Raya tensed up as she watched what could be explosive and she was not the only one.

"Since Harry set it up, it's time for us to expand into the 21st century, Chloe's running a blog," Lois remarked.

"I don't know much about anything about those computers, although I did get some prince in Nigeria claiming that he was going to send me a lot of money," Perry remarked as skepticism rang in his eyes.

"I wouldn't buy into that," Lois warned him.

Perry was also here on another mission, trying to follow a lead about the Red Queen.

Meanwhile Clark turned to Lois.

"I can't believe this," Clark remarked to her.

"You can't believe what?" Lois questioned him and Clark decided to tell her about it.

"You took a job without even telling me about it."

"Well, it's kind of like all of those times where you've run off on some kind of hair brained scheme without telling me, so I figured, turn about is fair play," Lois remarked as she watched Clark for his reaction.

"Harry's using you for his own ends," Clark warned her and Perry stood in the background before he threw his hands up.

He did not want to get involved and no one could fault the man.

"You don't get it Clark, maybe you should take a few months off and get some help, although I pity anyone who has to delve through this," Lois remarked to him tapping his head for emphasis as Lana stepped between them.

Lois allowed Lana to do this and the group walked away.

* * *

"Neurological damage is possible with prolonged exposure to the Lazerus Pit," Talia informed Harry as the two of them walked around one of the temples that they had just destroyed one of the accursed pits in.

Harry was afraid of that, although he was better to consult someone.

"There are safety protocols where it could limit the potential for the damage," Talia remarked as her eyes traveled down Harry's face. "But even with these safety protocols, it is pretty much impossible to negate all of the effects."

The Herald of Death had a few seconds where he paused. "And….with non-human biology, the effects could be….unpredictable."

Talia's eyes flickered as she understood what Harry was talking about immediately.

"The beast became increasingly feral as he was exposed the pit," Talia informed him as she clasped a hand to the side of her face. "I will not sugar coat this situation, the Star Child going into that pit and getting his powers super charged may have caused him to lose a fair number of his brain cells."

"So, are the myths true that it could manifest delusions?" Harry asked.

"It's possible, yes," Talia informed Harry as she mulled over these potential horrors in her mind, the duo making their way around the temple to ensure that there were no treasures that Ra's might have stashed here that could be of value. Her elite guard stood around her. "I wouldn't leave him alone. Even with his minders, he is a danger to himself and others."

Harry knew now that he had to ensure that the Book of RAO was ready and secure it before sending the Kandorians and Clark off. He knew that the safest place for Clark would be away from the yellow sun. Perhaps one day he could bring him back, should all of his issues go away, if they ever did.

Kara and Lara gave their blessing for this plan, as did Martha. And his protectors knew as well, but there was one person that did not know and that was Clark.

Yet there was something that Harry could not help but think that everything could potentially go wrong. He hoped that he was wrong but it was far more likely that he was completely right.

"Until we meet again, beloved," Talia stated as she leaned towards him and captured his lips into a tender kiss which he returned.

The two went their separate ways and Harry teleported all the way back to Watchtower.

"Another Pit down?"

Diana said this to him and he turned around.

"Busy day for the League I take it."

"That's not a newsflash," Chloe commented as she saw their newest member, Iris, standing in the background.

Much like many of the other members, she greeted Harry with a tight hug and a kiss.

"How are you settling in with the League?" Harry asked her.

"Good," Iris commented and another new member, Green Lantern, entered.

"Harry, nice to see you could make it here," Carol remarked to him.

"Yes, good to see that our leader is here," Shayera said to him.

Harry decided to shrug off this notion. "I just help bank roll this operation, it's Chloe that is coordinating things."

Chloe's smile grew widened. "Really, all I do is the mindless busy work, you're the one who is doing the real leg work and has inspired this team to actually work together."

Harry could not help the smile crossing his face as he faced Chloe and his jaw was set together as he clasped his hands together.

"So, are you going to be up for another round of sparring later?" Shayera asked as she stood against the wall and eyed Harry.

"Sounds like someone's starting to score some one on one time," Courtney commented as she stepped forward.

'_Then again, the line's pretty long, so you need to take what you can get,' _Courtney added with a smile crossing her face.

"Well, I'm looking forward to it, as always," Harry remarked to her as he placed his hand on hers.

"See you later tonight then," Shayera remarked but there was a blip on the communicator that went off.

"I'll get that," Chloe remarked as she reached over and tapped the screen as she heard the communication.

"Chloe, it's me, Tess," Tess commented. "We have a problem."

"What kind of a problem?" Harry asked as he turned towards her.

'_I better switch to the mental link, this communication channel might be compromised already,' _Tess remarked to him mentally.

'_I would say it's impossible but I know better than anyone else, the impossible could be possible,' _Harry thought.

'_Indy's disappeared, she hasn't been to work in five days,' _Tess remarked.

'_And you didn't report this to anyone,' _Kara commented to her through the mental link, trying to keep herself calm as could be, even though it was a labor for her.

Tess got immediately defensive as she fired back at him. _'There's something weird going on with her….I've been looking through her records.'_

'_What's weird about them?' _Karen asked curiously.

'_It's almost like she doesn't exist,' _Tess thought to them.

Now that was something that Harry placed his hands on the top of his head. He was sure that Indy was curious but there was something about her prodigal hacking skills that….well it was something that was curious about it. The green eyes of Harry flickered with agitation as he tried to figure out what puzzle piece he needed to fit in.

'_And she might have gotten grabbed by Checkmate but why?' _Harry thought.

'_That's the question I hoped you might answer,' _Tess told Harry.

Harry had no answers for this one and his expression continued to look around.

There was one thing that was for certain, Checkmate had declared war on him by grabbing one of his girls. No matter what she might be, she was still one of his.

"It's Checkmate," Harry told the group.

"Well, let's end them once and for all," Shayera remarked as she grabbed her hands around the mace and imagined smashing it on the head of someone.

She had always looked for an excuse to butt heads with Checkmate and they were ready to go around one more time. She clutched the mace until she was ready to beat them down.

Harry knew that he needed to play this one calmly especially given that there was one wild card that could throw any well laid plan into disarray.

* * *

"ARE YOU COMPLETELY MAD?"

Amanda Waller's hands clutched over her chest as she found out what Maxwell Lord did and she was about ready to shut this entire operation down, along with shutting him down. Her hands curled together as she resisted the urge to strangle the smug bastard. The dark skinned woman watched him, as the bastard watched her.

"I think that we took a necessary step for Checkmate and it's continued existence," Lord told her.

"Yes….you might consider this to be necessary but….we're going to get screwed over," Waller commented as she fixed her gaze on Lord. "Do you realize what we've done?"

"I don't even think….I'm not accustomed to being yelled at," Lord remarked as he moved his head towards the table where the young woman was strapped down and bombarded by several painful looking electromagnetic pulses. He scream was blood curdling and painful and these sounds disturbed Waller, made her blood run cold.

"She is one of Potter's,' Waller stated as she bared her teeth like an angry wolf and she arched her face towards Waller's where they practically went nose to nose. "If you mess with one of his, the war is going to start and it's going to be far worse than anything that the aliens could do."

Lord blinked.

"Shut it down, shut this entire operation down," Waller demanded. "I've got the authority of the Red Queen….she wants us to back off…."

Lord's eyes flared angrily as she brought Waller to her knees with a mental probe.

"Not a position you're accustomed to, are you?" Lord asked as he placed his hand on the top of Waller's head and patted it like she was a small child.

Waller's face flared with nastiness that flickered even more through her eyes.

"I'll have your head for this, Lord," Waller managed but speech was the only thing she was allowed.

"No, Amanda, not today," Lord commented in a brisk voice as madness flowed through his eyes and his hand tightened. The woman swayed a tiny bit as he was about to take her down. "You don't understand some of the sacrifices that need to be made. This person has the programming of an alien computer."

"What you're doing…it's going to get all of us killed!" Waller asked as Lord caused her to slam face first into the ground.

"I know what I'm doing," Lord told her, annoyed that this was even a problem. He caught sight of this woman. "Soon, she will be torn apart and soon, I will have this alien computer that resides within her body."

Lord could not believe how much Checkmate had been weakened thanks to one man and that one man was Harry Potter. He was nothing of note, just nothing but smoke and mirrors and the agitation of Lord continued to flow through his eyes as he kept his attacks up. The thoughts drifted through his mind as he kept the attacks up.

There was a humming next to him, it kept getting louder and louder.

Lord fell to the ground, his own powers forced in from around him and his eyes bulged out as blood poured from his nose. His eyes felt about ready to pop out of the back of his head.

"You've….overstepped your bounds, Maxwell," the voice stated. "I'm shutting Checkmate down once and for all, it started with you and it's going to end with you."

"Who are you?" Lord asked as his heart went ta-thump, ta-thump, ta-thump against his rib cage and he felt himself about ready to lose his mind at the sensations of it drilling over his rib cage. His eyes closed tightly as he kept breathing heavily.

His knees were about ready to be torn apart but he had no real idea what was happening. He felt his head about ready to combust, about ready to explode in fact.

"Years ago, you had a young witch attacked to try and draft her as a resource and gave her brain damage," Downfall commented as she stepped from the shadows and grabbed Lord around the throat. "That witch…she got stronger, but lost her purpose along the way. Once again….you thought you could stand on someone, stomp on them, kick them around."

Waller got up on her hands and knees and Downfall locked onto her, causing Waller to propel back into the box.

The box sealed in tight. It would not kill her but it did put her on ice for a while. Downfall thought that Waller's crimes were minor enough to allow her to live for now. She was an asset that should not be destroyed that easily after all and in the proper hands, she could be someone that could be a great threat.

Lord on the other hand, him and his associates, she was not going to shed any tears for him.

Harry turned up behind her as he followed Indy's screams. He saw Lord on the ground but that was not his concern.

"You've got to save me," Lord managed as he felt his head about ready to explode from what Downfall was doing to him.

Harry ignored Lord's pleads as he unhooked Indy from the bed and scooped her up. She was beaten up.

"System…failure…programming fault line, three nine two," she stated as her eyes started to change colors and there was a mark that appeared on her forehead.

It was an upside triangle with three dots.

Harry had no idea what happened but he wanted to get Indy back to the Shining Light Foundation, to see what they could do with her.

Shayera's mace could be heard cracking off of the skulls of enemies as they dropped to the ground and rolled over. There was blood and shattered teeth all over the hallway.

"I think it's time to shut these guys down," Shayera commented.

Hawkgirl, Stargirl, and Supergirl stepped in, followed by the Flash and Green Lantern.

"There's a rogue Checkmate agent," Harry told them as he walked outside.

"Really, well….who is that bad news for?" Shayera asked him.

"Us, really us, it's not over, Waller's being played as a puppet for someone," Kara remarked as she used her X-Ray vision. "And this facility is set to explode in twenty minutes."

"Someone's taking Checkmate for a really long ride."

Harry turned around, there was one thing that he had to do, he had to go after Downfall.

"It's one on one, me and you."

Downfall's eyes flared from beneath her mask.

"You've misunderstood my intentions," Downfall remarked to him.

"Well, explain them to me," Harry remarked. "Take off the mask, and face me, unless you're too scared to quit hiding, Alexandra."

Alex appeared behind Harry and he spun around.

"So if you're not Downfall then….who is it?" Harry asked Alex and she shrugged.

"I don't know," Alex admitted, she hated that all of the questions were answered.

Downfall struck her with a palm strike and the shattering blow sent Alex down to the ground, causing her to fly back to the ground. Harry dodged the attack and moved around.

"There's a bomb in here, is this your plan, kill everyone inside?" Harry asked.

"There's a bomb?" Downfall asked him and stopped but this allowed Harry to propel her back.

Despite the fact that he could not directly harm the suit, there were many ways where he could indirectly harm the suit. The two of them fired two bolts of light at each other.

"Don't play dumb with me," Harry remarked.

"I had no idea," Downfall told him as she stepped back. "I'd disable the bomb if you I were you."

Harry decided that would be prudent. He went to deactivate the bomb, knowing full well that Downfall would slip off into the night once again but he had no choice.

Their time was not up yet, well Lord's was, but he was dead before he got here. Alex stood behind Harry and he half expected her to do something.

'_No, now's not the time to be paranoid,' _Harry thought to himself as his heart kept drumming across his chest as he prepared to deactivate the bomb the best that he could.

There was a clicking noise and so far so good.

Harry let out the breath he held in his body, that was far too close for comfort.

* * *

Harry would have been mad but he was well past mad. His eyes stared as he saw one of his girls on death's door and her eyes started to blink. He closed his eyes and mentally started counting, his mind was roaming with thoughts of what he wanted to do. If one stepped into his mind now, it would not be a pleasant place to be. He could tell that there was others that was walking in the area around him but Harry paid them no mind, at least for a moment.

It had been a long time since he lost control of his emotions, given his job as Herald of Death, he could not afford to do that. Of course, there was a dangerous consequence of trying to suppress those emotions and that was the fact that he was going to keep certain thoughts from overwhelming his mind.

'_Damn, things are….just damn,' _Harry thought to himself as his mind continued to roam around and his green eyes flickered even more deeply.

"Harry."

Diana stood next to him as he scanned Indy on the table.

"Any progress?" Diana asked him in a calm tone of voice as she placed her hands on Harry's waist and Harry peered up, glancing into her eyes.

Harry decided to answer in the crispest and calm voice. There was a second where he tried to calm himself down. "I wish I could say that there was progress….and I wish to say that she'll be okay."

"You do realize what this means," Kara remarked as she stepped towards him and Harry nodded, he understood exactly what this means.

"Yes….I know," Harry told Kara and the blonde bit down on her lip, furiously leaving an indent in her mouth.

It appeared that Brainiac's final possession of Chloe left a certain consequence. Whilst Harry purged Chloe of him before the virus could spread, someone like Brainiac was going to make a copy, several in fact.

The his green eyes burned as more thoughts went through his head, the copy, if one could call it that, had become pretty much organic. It was someone with their own thoughts, their own feelings, and their own desires.

And someone that Checkmate found out about somehow.

"Zod wanted this I think," Harry told them.

"You think or you know?" Diana asked him.

Karen, who had been silent until then, spoke up. "I do know."

"Yes, he wanted the traces of Brainiac in her, that's the only way, he wanted to use it as a weapon to enslave us, just like his future self did, corrupt the system," Harry remarked as he cupped his chin with thoughts swimming through his mind.

"So wait….a part of me is in there," Chloe remarked as she stepped forward and looked at the young girl on the table.

"For all intents and purposes, yes" Harry told Chloe and the blonde's eyes blinked as she let out a whistle.

"Well that explains the mad hacking skills and the mad attraction to green eyed men with messy hair," Chloe remarked and Harry placed his arm around her. "So….does she know that she's…."

"She doesn't….at all, she cultivated an entirely new persona to try and hide the truth from herself," Harry explained and Chloe cupped her chin, a smile crossing her face as she thought about how ingenious the matter was.

"I wonder if she gets flashes of it sometime, you figure that she might," Chloe remarked to Harry and his green eyes kept following the woman beside him.

"I don't know but we're going to try and reboot her, for lack of a better term," Harry remarked as he bent over and placed his hand on her face, gently running his fingers down her cheek and her eyes flickered open and shut.

"No, not, don't, no, I don't!" Indy screamed as she felt her mind going completely nuts. "Get out of the way, don't trust him, don't trust him, Zod's going to kill us all!"

Indy's eyes flared with a few seconds as she was about ready to have a seizure and Harry stepped towards her, holding her head into place. She was shaking like a leaf and Harry had to try and keep her held steadily.

'_What the hell is happening?' _Kara thought to them.

'_She tried to warn the Council about Zod, but his men broke in and reprogrammed her into….well a him, into the Brainiac we all knew,' _Harry remarked.

Lara could not resist breaking into the bond link with commentary. _'Well….that's just about right, Zod has a perfectly good female and he gender swaps it.'_

'_That's about….yes that's about it,' _Harry remarked to them as he kept watching them.

'_So now what?' _Kara asked.

Harry did not like as that question was asked but it was something that he had to deal with. His green eyes flickered over the downed body, after the seizure she had, she was going in and out of it. Harry wondered what was going to happen next.

"The time grows shorter, and there is a rogue pawn in the house of Checkmate."

Harry spun around and saw Alex standing in the doorway. He did not even bother to ask her how she got there. His eyes just focused on the woman off to the side, standing before him.

"I know we've got off on a few shaky notes," Alex told him. "But I think we should work together."

Harry's eyebrow raised. "Are you only offering this alliance because you're losing control?"

Alex waved off his accusation with a smile and she locked eyes into him. "Say what you want, do what you will, but I don't care. The fact is that Zod and Checkmate are going to be locked into a war that's going to destroy us all."

Harry's smile crossed over his face. It was smugly satisfying to have something up his sleeve. "And did you not think I had a contingency plan?"

"What is it, tell me?" Alex asked him as she watched him but Harry shook his head. The woman's eyes flashed with annoyance. She did not want to get on her knees, that would be unbecoming for someone like her but the temptation never the less was there.

"Tell me what you know about Downfall because I know she's one of yours," Harry remarked to Alex.

Alex shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know, I can't tell you."

"You can't tell me or you won't tell me?" Harry asked Alex and Alex's eyes fixed upon his.

This was getting them nowhere.

"The two of you need to find a way to work together."

They spun around and saw Death standing there. Both Alex and Harry stared back at each other, both of them stubborn and proud. Neither wanted to back off even a few inches.

"I know what you're thinking, but now's not the time to lose yourself in your petty grudges," Death commented as peered at them through narrowed eyes. "The two of you…yes the previous administration messed with your minds as some kind of twisted social experimentation but now comes the time where you need to work together….along with your newest Herald of Death."

This caught Harry's attention. "Wait a minute, newest Herald of Death?"

Lily turned up at these words, dressed in the robes, with the symbol on them. Kara, Karen, Alex, and Harry all locked eyes at the same time.

"Am I too late for the party?"

Clara turned up, slipping into the situation as well.

"You made my mother, a Herald of Death," Harry told Death, he was this close to losing his cool, with the Indy situation already putting him on a trigger temper.

"I have a good reason for doing so," Death remarked but unlike others, she decided to elaborate on that good reason. "You need to work together."

Lily extended a hand towards Harry and there was a few seconds as Harry stared back at her. There was a sense if he was mulling over something in his mind. The flashbacks to everything that the journal did resounded in his mind.

"Remember, this was the previous Death's doing," Death of the Endless commented as she stared at him. She was still going to have to lock all four of them in a room to settle their differences but for right now, they were going to have to stand hand in hand.

Harry took Lily's hand and accepted it in a handshake. The green eyes of both locked onto each other and Lily pulled Harry into a hug.

Harry looked over her shoulder, returning the hug quite tentatively but he had one simple statement.

"Swerve me and you'll live to regret it."

Lily's eyes widened, but nodded, as she tightened the hug. She would make things up to Harry for what that fractured artifact did.

Death saw the tentative alliance born but it was step on to everything else.

* * *

"The rogue pawn is closing in."

"Right….as for the one underneath the mask."

"We're closing in on her."

"Be careful."

"Agreed."

"Make sure all of the rogue pawns are taken out."

"I will."

"Our infiltration of Checkmate is nearly completed."

"The plan must not be compromised."

"Actions are in place to neutralize the wildcard."

"Everyone knows there role."

A multitude of agreement could be heard.

"Agent Flamebird out."

"Agent Wisdom out."

"Agent Oracle out."

"Agent Athena out."

"Agent Omega out."

"Agent Argo out."

"Agent Lightning out."

"Red Queen out."

**To Be Continued. **


	32. Chapter 32: Persistance Part Two

**Chapter Thirty Two: Persistence, Thy Name is Downfall Part Two.**

Trust was a strange element and one that took an ample amount of time to figure out how it worked. There was one thing that was for certain, trust took a long time to build up but could be destroyed within a matter of moments. That was one thing that anyone out there could take to the bank.

The emerald eyes of Harry Potter locked on the two other individuals who walked beside him. Lily and Alex, two of them who he had his fair share of runarounds with, followed by Clara. He'd be perfectly honest, he had no idea what to make of the female counterpart of Clark Kent. Although the more that he thought about it, the more he realized that the female model was a lot more appealing to him than the male model for obvious reasons. She could have potentially had some of the same issues, Harry had no idea but if she did, then she did a far better job at handling said issues.

Kara and Karen brought up the rear and the two blondes kept their focus firmly on the battle. Neither looked that confident that things were going to work out for the best but they had to focus on getting these things done. The two blondes stood side by side as they linked mentally to Harry.

'_Do you trust them?' _Kara asked as she placed her hand on Harry's.

Harry's smile crossed over his face as he slowly turned towards the two blondes raising an eyebrow.

'_Yeah, I know, loaded question, very loaded question,' _Kara remarked to him as the blonde swayed her hips off to the side as she walked towards Harry. Her heart was hammering a beat but Harry wrapped his arm around her waist.

'_I don't think we have a choice this far in the game, maybe they had reasons, we had reasons for some of the things that we did,' _Harry remarked to them and the two blondes exchanged nods.

Lily could almost sense what they were thinking, even though she was locked out of the loop and there was only so many times where she could apologize about what happened. The redhead woman placed her face in her hand as she pondered her next move. She framed her face with her hair as she shifted her body. The actions of the journal and what she thought about it when she created it, well it haunted her. There was another hand in it, granted, it was a hand of Death, the former Death and now her actions all came back to bite them.

At the end of the day, they needed to trust each other and learn how to do so, even though Lily could tell that some wounds would take many months or many years to close, these thoughts resounded through the mind of this particular redhead.

There were many thoughts that moved through the mind of Alex, although she found herself uncaring about a lot of what happened. She had a lot of things that she was thrown under her feet from the previous Death and now she was lost in limbo, lost several years of her life and then spat out into this world on a whim by the powers that be.

"I don't know why you're staring at me like that," Harry remarked as he turned around to face Alex.

"You remind me of a younger version of me," Alex remarked to Harry.

"Well technically I am but only male," Harry told the red head girl and Alex's arms crossed as she stared Harry down. There was a few seconds where her eyes locked onto Harry's and both sets of green eyes stared the other down. Neither wanted to back down from this situation and there was a few seconds where their hearts thumped across their chests.

There was a couple of times where Lily wondered if they were going to attack each other, that was the problem with two people with high strung tempers. The redhead wondered if Alex had problems with her in the other world because she could have sworn a few death glares were placed her way as well. Harry stared into Lily's eyes and she saw their intensity reflect back into hers.

"Alex, I know what happened in the past, but we've got to focus on the present," Lily told her and there was a second where Lily stepped forward.

"You know something about Downfall, don't you?" Alex asked in a slightly accusatory tone of course as she placed her gaze on Lily.

Two sets of green eyes were locked onto each other as Harry wondered how painful this might end up. He could tell that they were going to be stubborn. The two of them continued with their stare down but Karen cleared her throat.

"I hate to be the voice of reason, mostly because I'm not good at it," Karen told them and they both turned to face her. "But we've got a rogue Checkmate agent running around who could ruin everything and I mean everything we've worked so hard to achieve."

"She's the one who did it, hired Downfall," Harry remarked and Alex turned towards him. "I know you think I know who Downfall is but I don't."

Alex said nothing as a beeping sound came from Harry's pocket. Reaching into his pocket he took out the device and brought it up to his eyes so he could scan the screen. There was a message there, it was short, sweet, and to the point. It told Harry everything that he needed to know in so many words.

'_We have a problem.'_

Harry hated those four words when they were placed together in a sentence, it never ended well for him. His green eyes focused on them as Alex watched him, her eyes flickering towards him.

"So, what is it now?" Alex asked Harry and there was a few seconds where he paused, as if trying to figure out how much to tell her.

'_So should you tell her everything?' _Kara asked Harry and Harry paused for a second.

'_Well we have a problem as Clark and his group just got captured, but yes I suppose that I have to tell her most things,' _Harry remarked, his mind was running a million miles a minute and quite scatterbrained at that.

* * *

Clark's eyes flickered open as he tried to figure out where he was. He had lost count of the number of situations like this that he had gotten himself into that would be considered problematic.

'_Well at least Lana, Lois, Raya or Alicia might be able to bust me out of there,' _Clark remarked to himself but then he turned his head around and sure enough he spotted the four girls in question secured and shackled, unable to move even the tiniest bit. They were so secure, they couldn't even shift their weight even the slightest bit to escape their perilous predicament.

There was a second where light shined directly in Clark's eyes and he tried to turn his head away from the lamp over him. It was a red solar lamp that cast it light over top of him. He may have had a small amount of powers so he would have to think quickly to find a way to get out of here. His arm was numb, almost as if he suffered a slight beating and his chest was heavy with the thumping of his own heart.

Clark's eyes tried to focus but his hearing was crisp as always as he heard a breathy voice resound around him. "Good you're awake."

"Who are you?" Clark demanded his vision was blurred from the light shining into it but there was a man who stood over him, clicking something.

"I'm the type of person who does the dirty work that the government doesn't have the balls to do," the government agent remarked in a raspy voice from the shadows. "I hope you appreciate what I'm going to do to you and the rest. The world will be saved, from one alien at a time, starting with you."

"I don't….I'm as human as you are," Clark managed.

Lois's eyes flickered open as she had a hell of a headache. It happened so fast that there was only some blurred recollections in her mind. In fact, she was pretty sure they were all asleep when it happened as she tried to get herself up.

Lana's mind was also a blur as she tried to shake off the buzzing that coursed through the back of her head. The dark haired woman tried to push herself back up but she sank back down with a garbled protest running through her mind. Despite the fact that she thought that she should be able to move, movement was not an option.

'_What happened?' _Lana thought in a slurred declaration as she tried to figure that very thing out.

'_I would tell you if I knew,' _Lois thought in a frustrated tone of voice, she really wished that she had all of the answers but as long as the questions kept changing, she was pretty much had her back against the wall. Her wrists were bound against a table as the shady government agent remained in the shadows.

"Checkmate has been compromised by those who have gone too soft, they are unable to willing to take steps, they want to draft you super powered freaks into their private army," the man in the shadows commented as he kept his eyes on Clark. "See, there's one thing that I know about you freaks and that's this. No matter what, you cannot be reasoned with."

He reached up and grabbed a drill with a super heated Kryptonite tip burning from the end of it. There was a few seconds where he paused and held the drill up to his face, locking his eyes on the tip a malicious smile crossed his face as he revved it once. That was about all the assembled group could see, although the tone of his voice was more than enough to coax thoughts of the abject horror that came from dealing with someone like this.

"I'm going to show you the true meaning of torment," he remarked to them as he kept his hands on the drill and he started it up again. The sinister whirling could be heard as the Kryptonite tip glowed maliciously. He edged a few steps towards his victim and held the drill against him. "I'm going to make sure that….I'm going to make sure that you cause no one any torment ever again."

He ran his finger down the tip of the drill hissing out as he did, so as he waited for the perfect moment.

"I'm going to take your foul heart out and mount it on my wall, a true trophy of what it means to makes my triumph all that sweeter,' he remarked as he adjusted his grip on the drill in his hand and there was another sinister whirl as he tapped the trigger again and edged towards Clark, going closer and closer to him.

Clark saw his entire life flash before him.

Alicia tried to teleport out but she was too drugged to use her powers. They had no idea what terrors where yet to come within the dungeon of horror but already things were not looking good.

There was a scream as the government agent dropped to the ground and Clark looked up. The man was spiked in the back of the neck with a gauntlet that was made of Kryptonite. Even though he was not a Kryptonian, he fell to the ground like a paperweight, suffering the pain that stabbed through his body.

Clark's eyes flickered around, blazing with fury as he turned to face his adversary. The adversary was Downfall and things went from bad to worse.

"You saved me," Clark managed as he looked up at the person.

"Did I?" Downfall asked but she reached over and shut down the red solar radiation. "You've got a price on your head higher than the net worth of some countries. They don't care about figuring out the difference between the good aliens and the bad aliens, all they care about is that they're seen as doing something effective."

Harry turned up and Downfall turned around. There was a few seconds where Clark's arms were too weak to be lifted off of the table. He thumped back onto the table and started to breath heavily.

Lily, Clara, Alex, Kara, and Karen had followed him. They all faced off against Downfall.

"My debt is paid," Downfall remarked as she used a spell to knock Clark back out cold along with the others four girls. "Checkmate's last remaining loose end has been tied up, it's yours for the taking."

Downfall pulled of the mask to reveal the face of Rose Evans, better known as Rosalina Sinclair. Lily came face to face with her sister for the first time of years.

"I thought that you abandoned me for the record," Rose remarked as she stared Lily down.

"I never would have….Petunia told me that you were dead," Lily remarked as she threw her arms around Rose. Rose returned the hug, although there was a few seconds where she looked towards Harry.

"So, I've done some things to you and your loved ones in the past, I can't remember them, but I see flashes of them, nightmares when I try to sleep," Rose remarked and there was a few seconds before Karen spoke.

"I'm sure the two of you have much atoning for and you will make it up for Harry," Karen remarked to them.

"Yes, we'll figure out a way to repay your debt," Kara remarked as she had a glint in her eye that only met one thing.

Their asses, both of them, now belonged to Harry Potter.

* * *

"We need to talk."

Clark wondered what Harry's game was now and he followed the green eyed sorcerer on his way through the Shining Light Foundation. He noticed that Diana, Kara, and Karen all had their eyes on Clark, as did Alicia, Raya, Lana, and Lois. Seven sets of female eyes, all of them begging for Clark to try something were locked onto him and that was making him fairly nervous. The Last Son of Krypton made his way through the doors as they moved closer to their destination.

"I want to know what you're doing, we need to know," Clark remarked as he looked to the females behind him.

"Do not bring us into it," Lana remarked but she would be lying if she was not completely curious if she was curious about everything. The dark haired woman lead them forwards as they made their way down the hallway.

Harry shook his head and gave Lana a glance that told her that this was okay.

"I've been working with something that your father….the clone….stashed here," Harry remarked as he looked over his shoulder and faced Clark. There was a few seconds where the two of them locked eyes onto each other.

Clark felt the accusation bubble from his tongue. "You knew about this for how long…."

"Everything I've done is to make sure that the world doesn't fall into ruins because Zod and his followers, along with several other parties will destroy it," Harry remarked as he turned towards him. "But….you've earned the right to know."

"So you trust me?" Clark asked in confusion as he locked eyes with Harry.

There was a brief second of pause as Harry told him. "Trust is a word that I think that we all throw around a bit too easily but given that all that's happened, you've earned about as much trust from me as you're ever going to earn."

There was a small part of Harry that felt a bit bad about what he was going to have to do with Clark but there was something that reminded him that unless his head got in order, he could be a danger to the world. Stripping his powers was not an option, not this time, because he could think of at least a dozen ways where he could restore them at the cost of his sanity. So, it was time for Clark to go away. And being in order meant that he could not be around in the world. The emerald eyes of Harry Potter fluttered as he kept his expression locked on the young man behind him.

"I trust you've heard a few whispers about the Book of RAO," Harry told him and Clark nodded in affirmation.

"Zod mentioned it to me, it was said to be something that could give us ultimate power," Clark remarked and Harry shook his head. "What do you mean…..well since you seem to know so much, what does it do?"

Harry was pretty sure that comment from Clark was a slight that was directed towards him but he could not be bothered such trivialities. He remained fairly calm and collected as he drew in a breath so he could explain.

"The Book of RAO was developed by your father to bring the Kandorians to a promise land, a type of new Krypton."

"A New Krypton?" Clark asked of him.

"As long as they remain on a planet underneath the yellow sun, they will give into certain temptations," Harry told Clark and Clark nodded. "You've heard the phrase of absolute power corrupting absolutely."

"Yes, I have," Clark agreed.

"Yes, and that phrase will be one that would be completely accurate towards the Kandorians," Harry commented to Clark and Clark's head inclined with a slight nod. He placed his hand on his cheek.

"So what does the Book do?" Lois asked.

Harry was cut off by Clark's inquiries but he was grateful that Lois had brought him back to that point. "The Book of RAO is going to transport everyone of Kryptonian descent off of the planet."

"When they say everyone that means….that means me as well," Clark remarked to him.

Kara was quick to step in with a reassuring smile. "Yes, that means that but here's the thing. You'll be there with them and you can lead them into a new age, a new future, and there's always the chance that you can be brought back to Earth."

Clark wondered about this but he thought about how he could find his new destiny separately from Harry and the Heralds of Death. He could return, find a way to become stronger than ever before.

'_You're sending him away, so he can get his shit in order, aren't you?' _Lois asked Harry.

Harry did not say anything because there was nothing that needed to be said. He headed towards the room where the Book of RAO was kept. Harry's green eyes burned with even more intensity then usual.

His heart kept beating as he reached forward and removed the lock and the doors started to click open one at a time. The wizard took his time in opening the door and the suspense could be cut with a knife.

"It's not here," Kara breathed in a horrified tone of voice.

"You mean it's gone," Clark remarked, he was taken off guard by that and there was a small amount of dread. "I thought that there was security there."

"Yes….I know it was," Harry commented to him as he looked around. He performed a scanning spell around the area but only found something and that was the screws of a panel having been loosened.

Whoever, loosened it obviously intended Harry to open it up and the green eyed wizard got down onto the ground to pull it out.

The Red Queen was in the palm of his hand.

"Checkmate has the Book of RAO," Harry remarked and Clark's eyes blinked towards him. "The Red Queen."

Clark did not want to say anything but he knew something that Harry did not know. A mysterious contact came to him the previous day and had given him concrete proof of all of the identities of the Checkmate agents and he knew the identity of the mysterious Red Queen.

It took him for a loop but he knew it and Harry obviously did not know it, at least that's what Clark thought.

"The Red Queen….well I'm sure that you'll find it, you always do," Clark remarked to Harry with a smile.

There was a whisper in his ear to take him out now but he knew that if he struck, Kara and Karen would have them, not to mention Diana, and any other members of Harry's group that was hidden.

Clark and his minders left as Harry watched him.

'_So he bought it,' _Chloe thought to them.

'_Yes, he bought it,' _Harry remarked to her in conclusion before he added mentally. _'Checkmate.'_

* * *

Clark returned to the Kent Farm and he was greeted with his mother standing around the kitchen, baking a pie.

"I have to say, that brings me back to the good old days," Clark remarked to his mother and Martha turned towards him, raising an eyebrow towards him. "You know? When things were a bit more simpler."

Martha shook her head but she looked towards her son with a smile on her face. "Clark, you really are looking at things with rose-tinted glasses if you things were ever simple for us."

Clark shrugged his shoulders, his mother had a point but he recalled a time where things were far simpler. Where all he had to deal with was the random meteor mutant of the week and had to worry about getting through the challenges of High School. Those days were a long time ago, in fact the days of innocence ended a long time ago.

It was almost like Clark could not pinpoint the time where that would have changed but it caused his head to buzz with pain and misery. He placed his hands on the top of his head.

"You're troubled," Martha remarked and Clark opened his mouth. "A mother can always tell."

"It's just…." Clark looked over his shoulder but no one was around, not even Lana or Lois. He fixed his eyes back on his mother as the two of them stared each other down for a few seconds before he remarked to her in a crisp voice. "How did you do it?"

"How did I do what?" Martha asked, she kept her voice calm and acted like she did not know what Clark was talking about.

Clark smiled, playing the game. "You did it, a son can always tell."

"Well, you're cryptic," Martha remarked as she stepped back a little bit. "The Book of RAO….I have it. I managed to liberate it from the Shining Light Foundation. You're the only one who could use it after all."

"I really am," Clark commented in a tense tone of voice as he kept his gaze locked onto that of his mother's and Martha nodded her head at him.

"Yes, Clark, you are," Martha agreed as she kept herself watching him. The redhead shifted herself around and reached into a jar where she had it hidden. She took the metallic object and walked it over towards him and placed the object into his hand.

Clark watched it, this object almost made him nervous, almost made him scared, but he focused his expression on it.

"It will send them all away, onto another world," Clark remarked to Martha. "Are you sure…."

"That it's safe….yes I've had my contacts at Checkmate take a look at it," Martha told him as she eyed him. "Using this object….the world will be a safer place and perhaps Zod can find his own place in the universe."

Clark nodded as he recalled his father's words, the promise that he made to save Zod and his eyes flickered towards the book as he held it in his hand.

'_Use it and take him out, remove him from the equation,' _the voice of Jor-El commented in the back of his ear, it was like a whisper that he could not shake off.

Clark inclined his head but he blocked the buzzing that was going through it.

"Are you okay Clark?" Martha asked as she frowned looking at her son.

"Yes, I'm fine," Clark remarked but he had a question for his mother and he could not help but ask it. The woman fixed her gaze onto Clark as he did so "Do you ever regret anything that you've done in your life?"

Martha paused as she considered her son's question but then she shook her head. "Regrets….in another time, I might have had them. But after I've seen some of the things in the world and all of the mistakes I've made, I've chalked them up to a learning experience."

"Would you do anything to save the world?" Clark asked suddenly.

Martha frowned at her son as she spoke to him. "Anything can mean a lot of things, Clark, you know that, don't you?"

Clark nodded, he did know that and he knew that there was something that he might have to apologize for having to do. His father reminded him constantly that someone with Harry's power level, well he was too dangerous to live.

"I know….I know," Clark remarked to her as he held the Book of RAO in his hand. There was a huge part of him that made him feel like he was playing with live fire in his hand and the spark was going to shoot out and burn him big time, and very badly. He wondered if he was going to do something that he might regret.

Clark's eyes swam with frustration as he was torn between doing the right thing for him and the right thing for the entire world. His mind continued to boil over with these frustrations as he watched the Book of RAO in his hand.

"So, it was interesting to meet with your birth mother, Lara," Martha commented to Clark and Clark turned towards her.

Talking about his frustrations regarding who his birth mother was in a relationship with was not something that Clark felt at ease with doing with his mother. Therefore, wisely perhaps, he kept his mouth shut. Even though there were times where he wanted to rant and rage about it, it would be foolish to do so.

"Yes….she's an interesting woman," Clark commented as he kept his voice calm.

"She was a doctor and a scientist in her own right, I think that she wasted a lot of her own potential by marrying Jor-El," Martha remarked, although she did think that love tended to blind us all.

"Yes, she is remarkable," Clark agreed with his mother as he thought about it.

"Well, I'm going out with her, we're going to have coffee together," Martha commented and Clark looked at his mother.

He had no idea why, but there was something about the prospect of his birth mother and his adopted mother having coffee that quite frankly spooked him even if he was unable to properly wrap his head around it. Actually he wondered if they were going to have a discussion about things that happened with him recently.

Martha took her leave as she had a message. She took out the phone and it read.

'_Thanks for your help, he'll be fine.'_

_Agent Omega_

_Agent Lighting_

_Agent Argo. _

Martha did the standard protocol of deleting the message as she made her way off to meet with Lara. The truth be told, she hoped that this cloak and dagger act was not going to blow up in their faces.

She was skeptical until Harry, Kara, and Karen explained the plan to her and now she decided that this might be for the best.

* * *

No matter what life she was in, Shayera knew one thing and that was she always hungered for a good fight. The redhead placed her hands on her hips as she prepared to stare down the young man who was standing across from her. The smile that crossed her face could not be beaten by anything on Earth.

Shayera dropped into a battle stance, she was dressed in a tight white sports bra along with a pair of dark pants as she faced Harry. Her toned stomach was showcased, as her breasts strained against the top. The pants stretched tightly around her amazing ass and Harry kept his eyes locked onto hers as he kept staring her down. The redhead was watching him with a great deal of intensity and he was watching her with some of his own as well.

"So are you ready?" Shayera asked Harry, a smile crossing her face as she could barely contain herself and Harry smiled as he faced the winged woman that was staring beside him.

Courtney sat off to the side, eating an apple, and waiting her turn, but naturally, she was not about to get in the middle of this. Shayera could be fairly intense when she was fighting after all.

Still there was one thought that resounded in Courtney's mind.

'_This should be good.'_

Shayera had an intense expression on her face and the redhead's face was framed with her hair as she looked across to the green eyed wizard. Both of them circled around each other as the two of them waited for an opening to attack each other.

Harry dodged the attack as Shayera moved passed him, trying to hold her punch steady but she pulled back at the last minute. She spun around to face him as Harry waited behind her.

"So, you're cruising for one," Shayera commented as she rushed forwards again Harry but the emerald eyed wizard dodged out of the way once more. His green eyes flickered as Shayera kept moving towards him.

A few more swings of her fists but Harry kept dodging them as Courtney watched the battle around her in the most excited manner possible. She was keeping her hands cupped in her chin as she watched.

'_Going to be so good….oh that one has to hurt,' _Courtney remarked to herself as Shayera grabbed Harry around the arm and tossed him down to the ground.

Harry rolled over and rubbed his elbow, he had to admit, that she almost hurt him on that one but almost did not mean quite. The emerald eyes of Harry Potter once again swam with intensity as he pulled himself back up to a standing position and stood in a battle stance. The two of them kept circling each other.

"Again," Harry told her and Shayera smiled as she rushed Harry, going for him once again.

Harry avoided her attacks, dodging and weaving around them as his green eyes filled with mischief as his intensity could not be beaten. He motioned for her to keep going for him and Shayera felt herself winded from the early attempts to attack him.

"You're out of practice, aren't you?" Harry asked her and Shayera took him down by the legs and brought him down as she aimed a punch at him.

"What do you think?" she asked and Harry held her arm back and smiled.

"Very good, and again," Harry commented as Shayera sent a punch at him once more but Harry dodged it.

"Believe me, I'm going to take you down and you're going to be pleading for it to end," Shayera remarked as her warrior spirit flared up.

Although the look of determination flowed through her eyes, deep down, the woman enjoyed this and she enjoyed pretty much everything Harry could give her. The two of them surrounded each other as they rushed the other. Their hands were lifted up in the air as Shayera made her way towards Harry and tried for a rocket buster of a punch.

Harry arched his back and dodged that. He bobbed and weaved in the attacks and went behind her, holding his arms around her waist.

Shayera thought that this was an attempt to fluster her and she would not go for it. He pressed against her and the redhead felt something brush against her. She tried to keep herself calm and collected although she realized that any other man she would simply bust their teeth out of their mouth with the point of her elbow.

With Harry, she was distracted for some reasons and Harry went between her legs to deliver a takedown.

"I'm not used to being taken down on that," Shayera remarked and Harry grabbed her arms and pinned her down.

"I'm sure it's been a very long time since you've been flat on your back," Harry remarked with a grin as he straddled her in the dominate position and Shayera tried to get herself back up towards him but Harry flipped her back over. The emerald eyed wizard kept his expression on her.

"Yes….but I can adapt," Shayera commented as she managed to arch her hips up towards him and pushed herself up out of the attack.

She grabbed Harry around the wrist and whipped him against the padded area of the room on the other side.

Shayera grabbed Harry, her legs straddling his hips as he crouched down and her mouth found his with a kiss.

Courtney watched, shell shocked and unable to articulate two words. She saw this intense kiss, as their arms wrapped around each other and their tongues worked together for dominance as Shayera reached around and made quick work of Harry's pants, removing them from his body and revealing him to them.

'_My god,' _Courtney managed, nearly having a nose bleed at what she saw and her heart was aflutter as she saw Harry's length.

**Smut/Lemon Begins.**

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends.**

**To Be Continued In the Next Chapter. **


	33. Chapter 33: Gearing Up

**Chapter Thirty Three: Gearing Up.**

The weather outside was not too hot but not too cold either. There was a nice breeze that was flowing through the air and the leaves were moving around because of it but did not scatter too badly. The birds were singing pleasantly but it was not to the point it was too obnoxious. The sun shined brightly and it was the type of day where people were extremely happy to be alive. There was a sense that the world was going to have many bright days.

"Checkmate will come under new management," one of the voices remarked in the backroom of a club outside of Metropolis.

She was Martha Kent, a woman also known as the Red Queen of Checkmate.

"I can't believe Clark...I just can't believe that he's this far gone," Martha commented as she learned a lot of what happened with Clark during her short visit and he was not the same that he was a couple of years ago when she visited during Harry and Kara's wedding. She cupped her hand onto her chin and faced Lara. "Do you think that there's any chance that..."

"There's always a chance he could get better," Lara interjected as she talked to Martha although she knew that Clark being sent off world for a long time would be the best thing for him. He could learn how to be a leader and deal with everything that came with it. She was dreading the consequences of what might happen if he wasn't and the blonde hoped that everything would turn out for the best. "I'm hoping with his minders there to keep tabs on them."

"They'll get a chance to go, naturally," Martha remarked.

"Yes...Raya will do anything for the House of El, Lana and Alicia will go if they think that the other is going," Kara commented as she leaned out of the shadows, with Karen and Harry sitting next to her, along with a fourth party that remained hidden from Martha's eyes. "Hermione...she'll go as well I suppose."

"I notice that you're leaving someone out of that party," Martha commented to them.

"Well, we all know that Lois has other responsibilities that she can't exactly be pulled away from although given the set up, the choice is in her hands," Harry remarked to them all as he looked over the notes. "All Clark has to do is set up the Book of RAO and the male Kandorians were be on their merry way home."

"Have you ever heard of a plan that has so many variables where it could go wrong?" Karen asked but she placed her chin on her hand. "If we don't send Clark away, his mind could be ensnared by it."

Harry knew what she was talking about so there was no need to really say much more other than that. He placed his hand on the top of his head and pondered...yes he was getting a headache just thinking about it. Clark's attitude lately and the fact despite there was steps taken to correct it, nothing that they did stuck. Sending him off for a while, that was the best situation as far as he was concerned. It was also a scenario where he could envision a fair lot going extremely wrong.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't, and Harry would be damned if he did not make one last attempt in fixing Clark so he could become the hero that he was supposed to be. Although he thought that he was fighting an uphill battle and he thought that sending him away without the pressures of living up to that moniker, on a world where he'd be essentially the only hero, would ease the burden for him. It was not like Earth was lacking in heroes.

"Just got to do what we've got to do," Lara commented with a smile, she thought this over far enough and the blonde kept going over the different scenarios in her head. She wondered if it had been the smartest decision to bring Jor-El back after his essence got banished in the first place. There was a few seconds where she recalled the different trails and how many of Clark's perils had been due to what the defective version of her husband had forced upon their son.

Harry's hand found hers and he squeezed it tightly, the blonde relaxing with a smile after taking one deep breath in followed by one deep breath out as she felt her Lovers hand in hers. After a moment she turned to look at Harry so he could see the slight smile on her face before arching her back, and head in a stretch letting out a soft sigh as she released the tension.

"Don't worry, Lara, everything's going to be fine," Harry told her as he kept squeezing her hand.

"You seem to think that there's...there's a plan where nothing could go wrong," Lara offered to Harry as she used her other hand to cup her chin.

There were thoughts going through her mind.

"I believe it, if Harry believes it," Martha remarked with a smile crossing her face but she thought about all of the problems that she had to deal with. Checkmate was a mess thanks to Maxwell Lord. She was not sure who was under his thrall and who was doing these things of their own accord. She cupped her hand on her chin and she thought about everything that transpired as of late. "So, let's hope that everything goes fine."

"Clark...I think that there was a lot of pressure put on him and he wanted to shield himself from that for long," Karen remarked to them and they all nodded in agreement.

_'I just wonder how much we're going to have to clean up in the aftermath,' _Kara thought to her bonded as they pondered that notion.

_'I just hope that Zod isn't going to make one last desperate play to get Clark on his side,' _Harry commented to them all. The green eyed wizard breathed in and breathed out with a long and labored sigh.

_'Don't worry...it will work out, we've taken a look at this plan from every single angle,' _Kara thought to them.

_'And yet, I'm still worried,' _Harry thought suddenly.

Martha made her excuses to leave. "I suspect we'll meet up again. If anything breaks, you'll call me, right?"

"Yeah, I'll call you," Harry remarked although he thought about his fail safe plan to deal with the Kandorians if this plan with Clark failed and he thought about all of the different angles of approach, as well as all of the things that could go wrong.

So many things could happen and there were a lot of things that could go wrong.

* * *

Power was an element that many people debated the true meaning of. Clark Kent debated this point with himself as he held the Book of Rao within his hand. He could not believe that his mother got it for him and he kept it away from Lana, Lois, Alicia, and Raya. He felt that this was his destiny, his destiny alone, and no one should stand beside him other than himself. His face contorted into a brief smile as he considered his next action.

"You have it in your hand, all you need is the means to send them away."

Clark turned around and once again, he saw his father standing in the background. His eyes was locked on that of Clark's and the two of them stared down each other. They stood there like that for several second with their eyes locked onto each others, and the tension between the two could be felt in the air.

"I don't know...it could send all of us away...including me," Clark remarked to him and Jor-El moved towards him.

"You are far above these Kandorians," Jor-El remarked to his son. "You are strong, my son, you are not some genetic copy of a relic that has long since passed it's prime. You are much more. Even the great Zod...he is but a copy of a far superior model."

Clark nodded, although he had yet to figure out why his father continued with his praise of Zod. There was a few seconds where he surveyed the man before him, the man who gave him life all of those years ago.

"There are those that have betrayed you, Lana betrayed you once for Lex, what makes you think that she would not do so for Harry or anyone else?" Jor-El asked Clark and he hit the moment of indecision. "Alicia was never mentally stable and Raya...she had an obsession towards me."

"I'm...I don't know," Clark remarked, he was about to defend them but he did not have the conviction to defend any of them. There was a few seconds where he paused and remained calm, looking at his father. Could they betray him, could they stab him in the back?

"You can still teach them obedience my son, you had the power at one time to outstrip all of them," Jor-El told him, there was no room for anything that resembled argument in his voice. There was a few seconds where Clark stared back at him, wondering what he was talking about.

He dropped to one knee and he felt the thumping echo through the back of his head. He felt the pain that resounded through his body and his breathing was getting heavier. He was trying to keep himself from falling underneath everything. Clark's eyes continued to mull over as he tried to scramble to his feet but his legs failed him.

"You feel yourself weakening, don't you?" Jor-El asked him, half of a taunt going through his voice and his gaze becoming serious. "You need the power, you're running out of time. It's going to end with you weaker than ever before."

"I'm not weak!" Clark yelled but he felt himself slump to the ground, as if he had been weighed down by an immense force that was greater then anything that he ever experienced.

Tons of weight pressed on the back of his head and he kicked his legs but there was no movement coming from him. He tried to push himself back up but he collapsed once again. There was a few seconds where he tried to get himself back up.

"Prove it then!" Jor-El bellowed to him in a firm voice as he stood over Clark. "You are a noble son of the House of El, therefore you should stand up and face me...face me like a man!"

Clark tried to scramble to his feet but it was hard to get back to his feet. Jor-El stood over him and Clark was breathing heavily.

"There can only be one Kal-El!"

"CLARK!"

Kal jerked out of his thoughts and he saw Lana kneeling next to him. His hands were bleeding and he was shaking, looking completely pale and out of it. As his breathing became extremely labored, the dark haired woman raised a hand and practically slapped Clark in the face.

"Raya, get...get some help, he's not responding!" Lana yelled as she saw Clark's pupils dilate but he reached forward and wrapped his hands around her throat.

Clark saw nothing but enemies around him. Lana was taken off guard by his sudden burst of violence but Raya rushed in and knocked Clark off of her. Lana dropped to her knees, massaging her throat.

Alicia grabbed Clark and teleported him out of there.

"Are you okay?" Raya asked to Lana who was massaging her throat.

"Yes...yes I'm fine," Lana stated although she felt anything but fine. There was a few seconds where she struggled to get up. "He looked like he was having a seizure."

"I got a sample of his blood," Raya told Lana and there was a nod. Alicia would be keeping an eye on Clark for now.

_'Alicia handcuff him to you if you have to,' _Raya thought. This was not supposed to happen.

"What do you think happened?" Lana asked Raya.

"There are any number of poisons that could effect Clark, some of them causing delusions and delirium," Raya remarked to her. "One of the Kandorians could have infected him, there are members of that army that were deceitful."

Lana's glance looked off of Raya's face. "It was Jor-El."

Raya turned away from Lana, an unreadable expression on her face.

"You don't believe it at all, do you?" Lana asked Raya and the woman shook her head. "Fine, don't believe it but we both know it's the truth, it was Jor-El who..."

"Lana, I don't wish to have this conversation," Raya commented as she held the blood in the tube and she looked adamant that it was not Jor-El who did this to his son.

"I think I know what's happening to him," Hermione offered as she turned up. The two of them faced her and there was a lack of trust in their eyes.

"Do you now?" Raya asked as she locked her gaze onto Hermione's face.

"He's been poisoned, it was modified silver Kryptonite combined with a magical extract from a rare plant," Hermione offered to them.

"Silver Kryptonite...oh god," Lana remarked.

"And coupled with the residual Lazarus Effects, this caused any delusions to heighten," Raya remarked to them. "All we have to do is find the person who poisoned him."

Hermione and Lana both thought that the same person was behind it, although Raya was not about to believe that person was capable of doing so.

"Can you create an antidote?" Lana asked and Raya looked at her.

"I'll see what can be done," Raya offered to her but there was no promises that she could make.

* * *

Rose sat in the front lobby of the Shining Light Foundation, she offered an extremely long and extremely labored sigh. She'd only been able to remember a few fragments of what happened since she left the country during the second war with Voldemort. It was some kind of bad nightmare and she could scream with terror at what she saw in her nightmares.

Lily arrived to join Rose and there were a few seconds where the two Evans sisters stared each other down. Neither really knew what to say, both were at a loss for words and neither wanted to be the one to break this silence that was created with each other. One could cut the tension with the knife as this was the first time the two of them came face to face properly in years.

"So?" Lily asked Rose.

"Petunia said that you abandoned me, said that you wanted nothing to do with me," Rose remarked to her.

"Petunia...she's a known liar," Lily commented to her sister and Rose nodded in agreement, that was not something she'd dispute at all. "I just wish...I just wish things would have ended differently than they did."

"Yes, apparently I was Voldemort Junior and I went on a psychotic rampage...the savior of something or other," Rose remarked as she placed her hand on the top of her head. "I must have fucking snorted that meteor rock and it wedged in my brain."

"The old Death planned it like that," Lily remarked as she recalled her accident, assuming that it was an accident, to set her up as the vessel for the Herald of Death. "I hope the former Death is being tormented for what she did."

"But we've got one thing left to do and that's help Harry and his fellow Heralds in their role," Rose remarked, as she closed her eyes. She regretted everything that happened to her nephew when she was that abomination. She hoped to make it up to him before too long and Lily did as well. "So there's...Kal-El."

There was something about Rose's tone that indicated that she was underwhelmed.

"He's a special young man, and his heart is in the right place," Lily commented to Rose delicately.

"Is that your poor attempt to be politically correct?" Rose asked Lily and the two women locked eyes with each other, emerald eyes on emerald eyes.

"Call it what you want, but yes, it's essentially that," Lily admitted, as she regretted all of the grief she had caused Harry in regards to the Traveler.

"It seems to me we're going to have an Evans sister pity party," Rose remarked to Lily, recognizing the look in her sister's eyes immediately.

"Call it what you want," Lily remarked with a sigh.

This was not the most ideal situation and sure enough, they saw Kara arrive there, she had a frantic expression in her eyes.

"Kara, what is it?" Lily asked her daughter-in-law and Kara turned towards the woman.

There was a second of indecision in Kara's tone, she wondered if she should be able to trust this woman. On one hand, this was Harry's mother. On the other hand, she had done so many things that were considered to be...of questionable morality. She was going back and forth with it in her mind and the blonde wondered if she could trust her at this point.

Then again, within the past couple of days, Kara's hormones had been thrown out of whack and she got upset easily. At first she thought it was because of Clark but now that she spent all morning throwing up, she wasn't so sure.

She had to focus one problem at a time and tried not to get too upset.

"Kara, you're upset, you sound like you need help," Lily remarked to her and Kara took a few seconds to process it.

"Clark's been poisoned," Kara remarked and to be honest, in the back of her mind with all of the stress that hit her, she was looking at two the most likely suspects to this poisoning.

"How?" Lily asked and Kara looked at her with a tense look flickering through her eyes. "I might be able to help him."

Kara was skeptical about this but she kept her eyes locked onto Lily's. The two of them faced each other, both trying to get a feeling for the other. The redhead watched Kara.

"I can't help you unless you tell me what happened," Lily told Kara and there were a few seconds where Kara paused and she held up the paper.

"Here's the results, make of it as you will," Kara told her and Lily snatched the papers from her.

Lily saw the blood test results and scanned them over. She caught even more dire notes as she read through it. There was a few seconds where she hoped that she was reading this wrong but each passing note of it brought more dire thoughts to her mind.

_'This might be the darkest hour,' _Chloe thought to Kara.

_'No, I've been through worse,' _Harry remarked as he heard about this.

_'I just...I don't know what to say,' _Chloe thought as she wondered if Clark would even live to see another day.

"I can formulate an antidote," Lily remarked to them slowly but there was a second where she kept her eyes locked onto the rest of the group. "But it might be too late for it to do much good."

"More good news," Kara commented as she locked onto the link for Lana.

'_Yes,' _Lana thought in a tense tone.

_'Is Clark...sedated?' _Kara asked her and there was a long sigh where Lana appeared to be at the end of her rope regarding Clark and his recent problems. _'Lana...I know...I know...I know things are bad but...everything will work out right.'_

_'I...feel something...we don't have much time,' _Lana thought as the headache that she received was not getting any better, it was getting much worse.

_'What do you mean?' _Lily asked to Lana.

_'I don't know, it's a feeling that I have,' _Lana thought, she wished she could put her finger on everything but there was something about this, something that unsettled her greatly.

Kara did not have time to worry about mysterious feelings that Lana had that may or may not be true. All she needed to worry about was to find a way to figure out how to cure Clark before it was too late.

The time was ticking and Kara felt her stomach go in knots even more and the desire to throw up once again visited her.

* * *

Business might not be the best thing for Harry Potter to work on right now but it did keep his mind off of more stressful situations. At least that was the prevailing thought that went through the mind of the youthful wizard as he went over everything in his mind.

_'I don't even know if this is going to work out for the better or worse,' _Harry thought to himself as he reached the Daily Planet building.

Harry nearly bumped into Lois and stepped back.

"So, I guess you heard about Clark," Lois informed him and Harry nodded without another word. "Yeah...Lana seems to think it was Jor-El who somehow managed to poison him. I can't believe he'd stoop that low...well actually I can believe that, I just don't want to believe it."

"I'm not sure if it was Jor-El, at least not this time," Harry told Lois and there was a second where the woman locked eyes with him. The look that she gave him was one of those looks that asked Harry if he was crazy. "Yeah...something about that...it just seems too clean."

Lois smiled about that, Harry would find a deeper conspiracy other than the obvious.

"Do you really think things are going to get better after he gets sent away?" Lois asked.

"I don't know, he'd have less pressure to live up to until he grows into it," Harry told Lois and there was another statement that was on the tip of her tongue.

"Do you think that you'll ever be able to bring him back?"

That was a deep question that Harry had no idea if he could answer it with any clarity, given what had happened. The fact that Clark was poisoned...well Harry had his own theories on who did it. His trust of certain parties were at an all time low. He wondered if they had been looking at the wrong Kryptonite when Zod stuck that pin on Clark all those months ago.

"I'm not going to lie Lois, things are going to get ugly in the next couple of days," Harry told her. "You better look out for yourself."

"I always do, Potter, I always do," Lois remarked as her voice softened. "Seriously...you've got to do what you think that you've got to do. You've showed way too much faith in me by giving me this job in the first place."

"It's a dirty one, someone's got to do it, but we're reaching a crossroads," Harry remarked to her.

"I'll do what I can as we transition on through," Lois remarked as she debated about who she thought poisoned Clark, really. With a clear mind, she suspected that there were more than a few suspects.

She watched Harry leave as quickly as he arrived.

A second later, Harry returned back to Watchtower, looking more worn out and beaten down than ever before.

"The antidote should be ready in a little bit," Chloe remarked to Harry as he reached towards her and engulfed one of his wives in a hug. "Do you honestly think that it will work?"

"I honestly hope it does," Harry told her and Chloe rested with his arms wrapped around her. "This is unprecedented."

"You don't look good," Chloe remarked as she watched him. "When's the last time you've gotten any sleep?"

Harry tried to figure that out.

"Claire is on the island, with Donna, I don't want her in the middle of any of this," Harry remarked as he cupped his hand to his chin. "She'll have fun."

"You do realize because of the time dilation, she might be a full grown adult by the next time you see her," Chloe commented to him lightly.

"Well...it doesn't quite work that way...but...she's getting to that age where she doesn't need me that much anymore," Harry remarked and Chloe shook her head.

"No she needs you, the world needs you, just like Kara, Diana, Karen, Tess, Rachel, M'Gann, Carol, Lara, Alura, Iris, Vala, Faora...and everyone else that you've gotten in your bed needs you," Chloe remarked, she was out of breath. "And then there's Lana, Raya, Lois...need I go on? And I think in some twisted way, Clark needs you as well."

Harry wondered how Clark would react if Chloe said something like that.

"You forgot Courtney and Shayera," Harry remarked to Chloe trying to lighten the mood. "We should really make a flow chart, because even I'm having trouble keeping track of them."

Chloe knew that this was a coping mechanism, him joking about the size of his collective like this.

"The Amazons are at your disposal, Harry, should you want them."

Diana turned up and Harry detached himself from Chloe to go meet another one of his wives.

"I'd...prefer not to turn to them because this isn't their fight," Harry remarked to Diana but she reached around his waist and pulled him into a tight hug.

"Zod threatens the entire world, this is their fight," Diana remarked to Harry and Kara showed up.

"Any progress on Clark?" Harry asked her and Kara sighed.

"The antidote is being finished, it should be done but if it doesn't work, we're going to have to find another way," Kara told Harry and there was a second where she paused. "We need to find a way to put him into stasis."

"There is a way, pioneered by a scientist in Gotham, Doctor Victor Fries I think his name was," Harry remarked. "He invented the technology to put his wife into stasis, she had a terminal illness and he needed more time to cure it. If it could work for humans without any complications, it should work for Clark."

"And we do have the ability to get it set up in the Shining Light Foundation," Karen remarked to Harry who nodded in response.

He set up the foundation to help super powered people in need and Clark Kent, for better or for worse, was a super powered person who was in dire need of help.

"It was a three step problem," Lara said as she showed up. "You do realize that it was a multitude of things that caused Clark to crack, not just this one thing."

It wasn't just Zod, it wasn't just the Lazerus after effects, it wasn't just Jor-El it was a combination of the three.

Time stopped around Harry and Death showed up before him.

"There's one piece of business that you need to deal with," Death told him and Harry nodded.

Before they could help Clark and anyone else, Harry had to deal with some family issues, which was always the worst type of problems. A smile crossed his face.

It was time to have a chat with his mother, aunt, and twin, to make sure they were all on the same page and there were many complications that needed to be ironed out regarding what happened with them.

* * *

"So, we're in this room," Alex commented as she placed her hands on her hips and it was obvious by the expression on her face that she was not pleased by this.

She was dressed in a tight black top, a black skirt, that molded around her body like a second skin. Her body was amazing and Harry stared at his female counterpart.

"We're here, and according to Death, we're not going to be able to leave until we've ironed out our differences," Lily commented with a half of a smile plastered on her face. "So we might as well make the most of it."

"I'm guessing that time is not the problem in this room," Alex remarked as she placed her hand on her forehead. "I'm just...I'm just wishing that everything was more clear than it is now."

"All four of us were pawns for the original Death in different ways," Lily suggested with a shrug of her shoulders. The redhead's hair framed her face and the smile continued to widen over it for better or for worse.

"Pawns, that's putting it mildly, our abilities were exploited," Rose commented.

Harry watched his aunt, mother, and sister, for lack of a better term. It was a shame that they had some bad experiences together because they were all extremely beautiful. Their flaming red hair, green eyes, large breasts, flat tummies, long legs, delicious asses, it was a man's wet dream but he wanted to keep his head above the water.

"I'm really sorry for this Harry, you know I am," Lily commented as she placed her hand on her son's lap. "And I...I do want to make it up for you, what she did?"

Harry had no idea what the she was, whether it was the book Lily or the old Death.

"I haven't been loved in a really long time and I'm lonely," Lily remarked as she draped her legs over Harry's crotch. The redhead looked into her son's emerald green eyes. "I've...I've see what you can do and I want...I want to experience it just one time."

Harry said nothing once again.

"People might think it's wrong because I'm your mother but fuck them all," Lily remarked as she ran her hand down his cheek.

"Given all that I've done, I doubt that tapping my own mother would be the most morally objectionable thing that I've done," Harry remarked and he bent her over, turning the tables.

He flipped her skirt up and saw her red thong that was clad around an amazingly enticing ass. He felt like he could feel that ass up for days and not get bored with it, not at the slightest.

"Kara suggested that I should take it out on you and that your ass should belong to me," Harry remarked as he grabbed her. "I think that we have some issues to be worked out with, but first the three of you are Heralds now...for better or for worse, and...I need to exercise your needs."

Lily's pussy moistened at the thought of her son drilling her holes in every witch way.

"Please Harry, you're the perfect man," Lily remarked as Rose and Alex massaged his shoulders and offered light kisses on the side of his neck.

"And you're the pinnacle of womanhood," Harry remarked as he grabbed his mother and turned her around for a moment.

He pressed his lips onto Lily's and forced his mouth onto hers with a kiss. This kiss signified who owned her now and Lily exchanged it with lustful desire. Her tongue was nearly rammed halfway down Harry's throat and the wizard cupped her ass from behind, stroking her thong clad ass.

**Smut/Lemon Begins. **

-PROFILE-

**Smut/Lemon Ends. **

* * *

Alicia dabbed a wash cloth on Clark's face as he started to sweat like a pig in a suit after what happened. She knew of the complications of his illness, she just wished that she could do something more for him.

_'There's a slight chance that this could have long term complications,' _Raya thought to Alicia and there was a long pause as Alicia just soaked that all in.

_'What kind of long term complications are we speaking about?' _Lois asked, she tried not to let her worry betray her, even though she was a bundle of nerves regarding what could happen next.

"Water, I need water," Clark breathed heavily and Alicia turned around.

There was a thump and Alicia went down onto the ground.

Lana could sense it immediately and she smelled a rat. She saw that Clark was no longer there and Alicia had been nailed in the back of her head. Raya disappeared as well, likely to track down Clark.

_'CLARK!' _Lana thought through the link and she closed her eyes.

Clark's eyes were opened as he made his way outside of the temple. It was one of the last ones that had not been destroyed.

Mild mannered Clark Kent would not be able to get the job done and save the world. No, that would not do at all. He was nothing but a weak and spineless jelly fish.

Kal-El planned to commit murder most foul on his weaker, more human side. Even though they were more similar than he would care to admit, he refused to believe that weak fool that allowed a quartet of females to shove him underneath his thumb could be the son of the great and powerful Jor-El.

"Father...be proud...father I will do what you have sent me here for," Kal-El remarked.

"Let it be known that today is the day where you take those first steps towards your destiny and truly become a man," Jor-El commented, his voice echoing through his son's head.

"Stop."

Talia knew this was coming, Harry warned her that the pit would be too much of a temptation for Kal-El. She held it in her hand, a Kryptonite dagger.

"Let me through and I won't snap your neck," Kal remarked to her but she held the dagger in her hand.

"One step closer, and I'll plant this through your heart," Talia told him. It was the final pit, set to be destroyed tonight. She was indifferent to whether Clark Kent lived or he died, he was merely an ant, someone who had been granted a moderate amount of power to squander time and time again.

"Step aside," Kal remarked as his eyes flared with heat vision.

Talia smiled as she lifted up the dagger but another figure rushed in from the side at super speed and knocked her into a wall.

Zod arrived to face Clark, and walking behind him was his fellow Kandorians.

"I'm a man of my word, Kal-El, surely you could see that now," Zod informed Clark and the Last Son of Krypton inclined his head with a nod. "You're going to lead your fellow Kandorians to the pit and together we can have powers beyond the wildest imagines of all man. Just think, together we will rule."

"That would imply that we're equals," Clark remarked to Zod.

"I beg your pardon?" Zod asked him and Clark decided to tell Zod what he thought.

"You're implying that we're equals when that can be the furthest thing from the truth," Clark remarked to Zod and there was a second where the Major watched to him. "Despite your bravado, you're nothing, just a clone, a cheap, bargain basement copy of someone that I've defeated before."

"That wraith you think you've defeated was a shadow of what I once was but I'm stronger than ever," Zod remarked as he looked towards Clark.

"You aren't as smart as you think you are," Clark remarked.

"My blood flows through your veins, naturally I'm intelligent," Zod remarked.

"My blood that you tainted with poison flows through your veins," Clark commented to them.

"I didn't poison...you were poisoned?" Zod asked Clark.

"When you gave me the pin, you injected me with something, clever, devilishly clever, but you outsmarted yourself because if I'm not mistaken, your injected you Kandorians with that blood," Clark remarked.

"They didn't poison you, Kal-El, because I did."

All Kal saw was a hooded figure and a hint of blonde hair coming out from underneath the hood. Then he got a closer look and the betrayal was obvious.

**To Be Continued in the Next Chapter. **


	34. Chapter 34: Fate of Kandor Part One

**Chapter Thirty Four: The Fate of Kandor Part One.**

Clark's eyes widened as if he could not believe what was happening in front of him. He never felt a stronger combination of what he felt now and he'd be honest, he felt fairly betrayed by the woman standing before him, looking him in the eyes. She was supposed to be one of the people who would offer him protection and now she stood here, bold as brass and staring him down. Her blonde hair flowed in the breeze as she removed her hood from around her face.

"Raya?" Clark asked her but anger flashed through his eyes as he rushed over, grabbed her around the shoulders, and slammed her against the stone wall of the temple. "WHY DID YOU BETRAY ME? IT WAS HARRY WHO TOLD YOU TO DO THIS! HE'S BEEN OUT TO GET ME….FROM DAY ONE!"

"It's….it's…it was never supposed to go this far," Raya managed as she tried to twist out of Kal's grip but he had a strong grasp around her throat. It was hard to breath much less talk but the blonde was doing her best to keep cool. She stared him in the eyes with a pleading expression to let her go but no mere pleading in her eyes would make him let go of her. His grip remained tight and steadfast. "Kal….you must believe me….it…he promised me…."

"Potter sold you a bill of goods and you bought it," Clark remarked as he threw her to the other side of the room but he dropped down on his knee before Zod.

'_Fitting,' _Zod thought, his amusement flittering through his eyes but he said nothing out loud.

"It was not supposed to happen like this, I swear," Raya remarked in frustration as her eyes flooded over with pain and she felt a ringing through her ears. "You were….he was…..Jor-El told me that he knew Zod and his followers would try and use your blood should he got released. So I contaminated it….so they would go down more easily….it wasn't to kill you, it was to kill Zod….I have it right here."

Raya held it out in her hand, in a crystal vial. "I have the antidote, right here…..take it….you'll be fine again."

"Will I?" Clark asked as he seethed with anger and stared her down. "Why should I believe you after you betrayed me?"

Lana appeared in the temple but Zod reached over and grabbed her from behind. She struggled but Zod was far stronger than her.

"Kal-El, you must listen to me, if you value this one's life at all, you will hand me the vial, therefore I will be strong again and be able to lead my army to the promise land," Zod remarked as he stared at them as Kal took the vial from Raya's hand.

"Clark, don't listen to them!" Lana started as she tried to elbow Zod but Zod's grip was firm.

"Clark Kent is dead, there is only Kal-El," Clark remarked coldly as he took the vial from Raya and slowly walked towards him. "You were a noble leader, Major Zod."

"Your appreciation is noted," Zod said to him boldly.

"Note the past tense," Kal-El commented as his eyes glowed. "You can do whatever you wish to Lana….she's of no use to my future race."

He turned around towards Raya and Lana who looked at him with a pleading look in her eyes.

"Your loyalty is to Jor-El, who is nothing but an echo and an annoying one at that, therefore, you have no use to me either," Kal-El commented as he raised his hand but suddenly he felt a stabbing pain in the back of his shoulders.

Kal thumped to the ground on his knees and Talia held the dagger between his shoulder blades, having stabbed Kal in the back with it.

Lana used this distraction to elbow Zod in the stomach, then grabbing him by the hand she did a forward roll, sending him flying. Talia picked up the antidote and held it within her hand.

She bent down and removed the dagger from between Kal's shoulders, and grabbing him by the hair she yanked on it hard so he was looking up at her.

"Drink," Talia remarked but two of Zod's followers grabbed her from behind. Talia managed to twist and pivot and stick the dagger into the ribs of one of Zod's goons. She slid back and stood in a defensive stance. "You think you're taking me down easily….."

She pulled the dagger out and flung it but one of the soldiers caught it in his hand.

Zod picked up the antidote, his head would be clear but Clark looked up and used heat vision to burst the vial.

"What are you doing?" Zod managed as he felt the antidote explode in his hands and his lifeline.

He felt a fuzziness in his head but he had a stronger will than Kal-El, so it took much longer for the poison to set in that pumped through his veins. Zod rushed towards Clark and wrapped his hands around his throat.

"That's it, that's it, you will kneel before Zod," Zod grunted as he forced Clark down to his knees before him. His hands tightened around his throat as he kept strangling him and Clark tried to break out of the grip but he could not struggle out due to Zod's superior strength. His hands kept trying to push out of the grip but it was a no go. He struggled and squirmed.

"I don't….think so," Clark gasped and wheezed as he tried to get his way out of Zod's grip.

Lana was back up immediately and she kicked Zod in the face with all of the force that she could muster. Zod blocked the second kick and he grabbed her around the leg and swung her around violently.

The force of this attack caused Lana's leg to break as she landed on the ground. She winced at the impact and rolled over, favoring her leg which hung off to the side at a disgusting angle.

Kal leaned down and shook his head as he stepped towards the pit, the only thing that ever made him strong and it would make him strong once again. He used his heat vision to seal the inner doors shut and make sure Zod did not appreciate the pleasures of the pit.

They would be reserved for only one and that would be him.

'_The power is mine,' _Kal remarked as he stepped into the pit, dunking himself in and feeling the power flood around him.

The energies of pit revived Clark and his eyes glowed with malice. A smile crossed his face as he felt the power that was escalating in his body that would be his. His eyes flickered open and shut as he nearly collapsed but maintained a certain poise to his form.

Then everything faded around his mind as he lost all sense of Clark Kent and only Kal-El, the Last Son of Krypton, was there once again.

Without another thought, his eyes lit up and he destroyed the pit so no one else could use it and he flew off, having what he wanted.

He was going to pay someone a little visit first of all.

* * *

"We kind of got side tracked," Harry remarked to Alex and the woman crossed her arms as she smiled and faced Harry.

"Yes, kind of," Alex remarked as she leaned back against the wall. She was not going to regret the side tracking, especially given the results of what happened. She blew her hair out of her face as she placed her hands on the edge of the wall. "Don't deny that you didn't appreciate it."

"I appreciated it, alright," Harry told her and Alex inclined her head, a smile crossing her face as she watched Harry. "So….what was your problem?"

"My, problem? I didn't have a problem," Alex remarked in a coy tone of voice as she placed her hands on her hips. "Actually…my problem was….I was afraid that it would have been too late….the powers would have taken you over and screwed your mind up."

Harry placed his hands on the wall and leaned back as he gazed into his "sisters" eyes and remarked. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously," she admitted as she sighed, perhaps that was a situation where she could have done a lot better. She placed her arms out in front of her as if she was going to touch him but stopped. "But it seems like that I've been….I've been having problems closer to home here."

"Yeah about the Sisterhood…"

"I might have manipulated things a little bit but I guess my plans blew up in my face," Alex remarked as she blinked at Harry. "I'm going to speak with them and we're going to figure out what happens next."

"Harry….we've got a problem."

Harry turned around and saw Lois standing right there in front of him.

"Of course we do," Harry offered as he let his breath out in a long whistle as he wondered what kind of problem they had and what they could do to mitigate the situation. His eyes flashed with annoyance as he looked at Lois.

"Yeah, I…I hate to be the one to bring up these points but….Clark's lost his mind," Lois remarked and Harry raised an eyebrow. "He….went to the Pit…again…."

"What about, Lana, Raya, and Alicia, can't they help track him down?" Harry asked as he threw his hands up. He could not deal with this right now.

"Yes…..we tried but I think when he dipped into the pit, he had enough problems to override anything we can do after jumping in the pit," Lois remarked. "I don't know what you were thinking about having Raya poison him to screw Zod over but…."

"Wait….I didn't poison Kal-El," Harry told Lois and her eyes snapped open.

"I….it just seems like the type of convoluted plan, you had an antidote and everything, didn't you?" Lois asked.

"It wasn't me this time," Harry commented but he did wonder about Raya a few times, especially given the circumstances.

She was sent to the Phantom Zone on the orders of Jor-El, who knew about the Kandorians. Therefore, he would know about the dangers of them coming and so would she. The wizard wondered if this was going to be a situation that would cause him a greater headache than ever before.

Jor-El would use his own son as a chess pawn, especially the cracked AI copy who always had questionable motives.

"Jor-El decided to use her as a pawn as well," Lara remarked as she showed up and frowned. "I wanted to believe….or maybe I didn't want to believe…."

Lara sighed long and hard as Harry turned around. The League was getting into position to counter Zod and his army. The Female Kandorians were on Paradise right now, in the event that they were needed and they could take advantage of the time dilation to brush up on and enhance their skills.

"We want to believe the best of everyone but apparently Jor-El is going to use that to make fools out of us every time," Harry commented to them as he turned around.

"Kal shut down the bond link, didn't he?" Lara asked.

Lois nodded, she was feeling frustrated, not to mention at the end of her rope with Clark. Lana had a broken leg thanks to Zod, although it would eventually heal. Alicia had a concussion and Raya suffered brutal, but not quite fatal, injuries. She was the only one left, the only one who might be able to smack Clark back into line.

'_Chloe, send out word to the League to take out our rogue Kryptonian,' _Harry thought to his wife through the bond link.

'_Yeah, will do?' _Chloe remarked but she paused. _'Lethal force authorized or not.'_

Harry paused as he placed hands on his head and nodded.

'_Only if it comes down to that,' _Harry told the blonde as he hoped that it would not come down to that but feared it could be something that might happen.

Harry turned to Lois.

"Red sun," Harry whispered to her.

"What?" Lois asked in confusion.

"Trust me," Harry remarked. "You'll know when the time is right….you're the only one who is able to pull the trigger now."

Lois was left extremely baffled and Harry saw Kara standing next to the doorway, looking a bit out of it.

"Harry, I've got something important to tell you," Kara told Harry and there was a second where Harry paused.

Kara never looked so urgent in her life. Harry wondered what she had to say and he turned, following his wife down the corridors of the Shining Light Foundation.

"Harry, I've been feeling off for the past couple of days and now I know why," Kara remarked to Harry and there was a few seconds where the blonde surveyed him and dropped the bombshell. "I'm pregnant."

Harry took a few seconds to allow that to soak in before he hugged his wife.

"That's great, Kara," Harry remarked, they had actually been going without the charms for a long time, they figured that the old Death was devious enough to remove their ability to have children.

It appeared that the new management brought it back.

"Is there a problem?" Kara asked.

"No, I'm happy, Claire will be over the moon about being a big sister," Harry told Kara and the blonde nodded at him. "But…..how far are you along?"

"A couple of months, I think," Kara remarked but she was worried. A super powered Kryptonian pregnancy was uncharted waters.

"You better head to Paradise, Kara, get out of the line of fire," Alura remarked as she placed her hand on her shoulder.

Kara was stubborn to a fault as she crossed her arms and scowled in her most angry manner. "Mom I'm…."

"You'll be fine, providing you don't strain yourself but a natural Kryptonian pregnancy is extremely high risk as is and underneath the yellow sun, you're an unprecedented case," Alura remarked. "Lara and I will make sure everything goes by without a hitch."

Lara nodded, she remembered how difficult Kal was when she got pregnant.

"I'll be right here when this Zod thing is taken care of," Harry remarked as he kissed his wife on the lips. "Promise."

"You better be," Kara remarked as the two exchanged a tight embrace.

Kara was frustrated that she could not fight alongside her husband if things gotten bad but her mother was right, the baby was more important.

Harry would be alright, he had to be.

* * *

Tess sat at her desk, filing some papers away as she heard the rumbling of footsteps across from her. The redhead peered up from the desk and she reached underneath her desk but she stopped when she saw him.

"You weren't the Kryptonian I expected, Clark," Tess said in a casual voice.

"Clark Kent is dead, Kal-El remains," Kal remarked as his eyes were sunken in and devoid of any life.

Tess remained calm despite the situation. "I'm beginning to see why you and Lex got along as well as you did. Both of you have certain delusions about your own capabilities."

Kal remarked as he grabbed Tess by the wrist and pushed her back against the chair, to exert his domination over her.

"We'll see who's delusional now, Tess," Kal remarked as he hoisted her off of the ground and Tess swung, hanging from his hands. "You think you're something….just because Harry's gotten in your pants."

"Yes and it's obvious Harry knows how to treat a lady where you need constant instruction and hand holding," Tess fired back and Clark threw her against the wall. She landed hard to the ground, rolling over.

Tess bounced back up, with super powers and sped Clark against the wall once he let his guard down slightly.

"So, you've decided to fight back, good," Kal remarked as he used his heat vision to try and barbeque her.

Tess fired back with a heat vision blast of her own and she used her powers to push back into his. Clark felt a burning sensation in his eyes as she slammed him against the wall.

"I don't know….I don't know what happened," Clark breathed as he rolled over, blood dripping down his mouth but Tess pulled a gun out.

Clark was on the business end of it, staggering back and Clark backed outside of the office, into a research and development area. There were many machines, with a giant pit off the side of the set of stairs.

"See the bullets in this gun, they're made of Kryptonite, and if one pierces your heart, you're dead," Tess remarked to him as she stood on his chest, her high heel digging into it. She had a Kryptonite ring on her hand although she did not make a habit of wearing it. She only put it on because she knew that Clark was coming.

"You can't kill me," Clark managed as she stood on her heels and faced him.

"Don't be surprised about what I can do," Tess remarked but someone nailed her from behind.

Hermione stood over Clark, a half of a smile on her face.

"You…."

"You're going to kill Harry, I'm afraid I can't allow that," Hermione remarked as she held the gun on his chest.

"So, you're another one who was in his pants," Clark remarked with a heavy breath.

"No, not hardly," Hermione remarked as she held the gun up to Clark's head but he used the heat vision to cause the gun to melt.

"She who hesitates is lost," Kal remarked as he grabbed Hermione around the throat and the torso and hoisted her up above his head, walking over to the elevated platform area and throwing her down into the pit below.

There was a loud crack and Kal smiled but that was before another blur flew in and nailed him across the face.

Harry Potter arrived and he knocked Kal down with huge banishing spell.

"So….it comes down to this," Kal remarked as he went for Harry but Harry dodged his attacks.

Kal dodged his attempt to take him down with a stunning spell.

He rushed around and took a spell to the torso just to get a punch to Harry's face. His super powered strength caused a busted jaw and Harry rolled over.

'_Damn it….now I can't do it, I have to do it in close range,' _Harry thought as he felt blood drip from his mouth. _'Lois, it's up to you…..if you can get here in time.'_

Kal tried to use his heat vision but Harry created a shield and waved his hand. Spikes appeared from the ground but Kal dodged them as they shot up trying to impale him.

Tess rolled over and felt a fogginess running through her mind. She crawled over to a set of switches, it would release Red Solar radiation into the room, if she could get to it in time.

Kal stepped on her hands and kicked her like a football over the same ledge where he sent Hermione.

Tess was able to grab onto the ledge, her shoe slipping, dangling for her life. It seemed like no matter what she could not get a solid footing and she scrambled to pull herself up. Despite the fact that she had a good grip, it felt almost like she was going to lose it.

Harry turned around to face Kal but the young man stared him down, a smile, twisted as it was, crossed his face. Harry and Kal circled each other, there was no question about it, both were willing to take down the other, no matter what it took.

"I was a fool for ever trusting you," Kal remarked.

Harry pulled out the energy scythe.

"And you're going to kill me because I've exposed your plan," Kal remarked.

Harry saw Zod appear at the corner of his eye and he wanted to collapse down to one knee, he didn't have the time or the energy for this. A thumping resounded in the back of his head but he kept his head up firmly.

'_I so don't have time for this bullshit,' _Harry thought to himself as heart kept hammering within his chest but he pushed on, despite the situation. He was not about to go down without a fight, even though Zod being here, it was a problem.

"He's the problem, not you or not I," Zod remarked to Kal as the two of them locked eyes.

'_Yes because you're the epitome of everything good in this world….might as well fix my broken jaw when the two of them are yacking,' _Harry thought to himself.

Kal's eyes flashed in a combination of annoyance and amusement as he surveyed Zod, the two of them staring each other down. There was a few seconds where both of them locked eyes with each other and Zod's heart hammered against his chest.

"Do not be a fool, Kal-El,' Zod warned him and Kal watched him as he kept his eyes on the Major's face. There was a sense that both were jockeying for position.

"I'm not a fool, that's you," Kal remarked as he reared his hand back and with a thunderous crack, he knocked Zod in the chest.

Zod was sick of the demon spawn of Jor-El being a fool and he decided to finish him off once and for all.

Harry aimed his next attack at Zod's head, knocking him off to the side and through the windows. There was a loud crash of glass.

"You think you can take me down," Kal commented and Harry smiled.

"I know I can….Red Sun," Harry remarked and the code word came online.

Kal wondered what the meaning of this was, at least until he was frozen in place. He could not move, he was only allowed minimal movement for breathing. He stepped towards Kal as the young man was rigid in place. There was a sense that he would glare at Harry, had he been able to move his eyes.

When Harry gave, Clark and Lana the initial Kryptonite cure, he put a failsafe in there, in the event that they went rogue.

Harry reached over and held out his hand, pulling Tess up.

"You know, you could have just flown up," Harry remarked to Tess.

"Sorry, still working on manual control of that," Tess commented as she wrapped her arms around Harry and held them loosely around his neck. The emerald eyed wizard dangled her against his neck and she watched him. "So…you're kidding me?"

"It's not permanent," Harry told her.

Sure enough, no sooner did those words escape Harry's mouth, Kal's control was coming back to his body.

'_And with the pit, it's even less permanent," _Harry commented to her, as he turned Tess around.

Kal rushed forward, eyes blazing and he blasted Harry with heat vision. He expected a good twenty minutes to be able to contain Kal.

"Can't you just Red Sun him again?" Tess asked to him.

"Not for another two hours," Harry commented as he made his way around. "And we've got some good news, by the way."

This statement was said with sarcasm that Tess picked up.

"What the hell could be worse than this?" Tess asked.

"Well, shutting down his powers is draining on my powers…..given that I derived the cure from my DNA, therefore…..yeah I got bitch slapped by some annoying quirk of my powers yet again," Harry remarked as Tess wrapped her arms around Harry's neck and he kicked off, managing to summon enough magical strength to create a shield.

The heat vision rocketed off, as Harry used his last bit of strength to get Tess out of harm's way.

'_Harry, I swear, if you die, I will kill you,' _Chloe commented but she closed her eyes. _'I would be there to help but Zod's guys, they're on the move.'_

'_I'll curb stomp General Makes Other Men Kneel Before him, the League can handle the troops.'_

Harry turned around and blocked Zod's hand. He struggled with him but managed to push him back and continue the fight. Both went face to face and Harry used his free hand to hammer him with a series of shots. Zod grunted in surprise but a smile widened across his face.

"Weak as a kitten," Zod remarked as Harry flipped over his back but Zod nailed him in the ribs with an expert punch.

"Still….stronger…than….you," Harry remarked as he caused several explosives that he had planted to go off with a click of the button.

That was his last ditch effort to screw Zod over, even though it would take him out as well. It released clouds of the modified Kryptonite gas and more explosions as fire surrounded the two of them.

The platform started to collapse sending them to the ground. This area was warded off so no one could enter it and with Tess out of there, they were safe.

Harry fell down into the pit as Kal grabbed him and hurled him into the explosion with sparks flying everywhere.

Kal stopped and a moment of regret appeared through his eyes.

"What have I done?"

Another flicker went through his eyes.

"You've become a man, Kal-El," Jor-El whispered and he turned around to leave Harry and Zod to burn in a pit of their own damnation.

"Yes, I'm not the weakest link," Kal grunted with a wide smile crossing his face.

* * *

Battered did not even begin to describe how Harry Potter felt but he had been given a beating. He would have suffered a worse beating had he been mortal but thankfully he could take it. Better him than someone else.

Survivor, that's what Harry Potter was. He got Tess out of there and Hermione was already gone when he hit the ground.

Life was not the most ideal for him right now, as he pulled himself out of the flaming wreckage, burns covering his body. They slowly healed, but they healed at a crawl, with the pain taking its sweet time to fade away. Blood splattered down onto the ground as he dropped to one knee, then another knee, and then kept pushing himself forward.

He scanned the wreckage, it burning to use his X-Ray vision but he knew one thing and that was Zod had left the building. Somehow, his attempted and perhaps quite suicidal scheme to take down Zod had gone up in flames.

No pun intended obviously.

Harry opened his hand and shut it. There was no damage, at least none that he could determine. The wizard pushed himself towards the exit as he saw the blinding light to the other side.

"Are you trying to scare me to me?"

Harry turned around and saw Death standing there in the shadows.

"No, not particularly," Harry remarked as he checked the lifeline reader, Zod was still glowing gold, therefore he was out of his jurisdiction.

"It's reaching to the end of this road, the final battle and….I'm not sure if this situation can be salvaged," Death remarked to him in a swift voice. "Kal-El, despite your best efforts and because of the best efforts of others, may be too far gone. And you sacrificed yourself in one last attempt to redeem him."

"His problem is that he's cracked underneath the pressure," Harry informed Death and Death responded with a nod of her head.

"That will be the issue but you must ensure that Kal-El does not falter any further," Death told her Herald and Harry nodded. "He is verging into a territory where he may be considered an undesirable if he's not careful."

Harry tried to not betray that he could barely walk, even though his legs were about to buckle out from underneath him once more. He had never suffered this much pain in his life and whilst his powers slowly returned, his sanity was this close to faltering. His green eyes closed as he looked up into the sky, they were here, somewhere, in the midst of the city.

"It's not going to get that far," Harry informed his supervisor.

Death watched him, a half smile flickering over her face. "I appreciate your confidence although I can't help but question your sanity."

"Just watch and see," Harry commented as he turned around.

He was on one leg more or less, beat up, battered and abused but there have been far worse situations that Harry Potter had to go against. It was in his nature to never surrender, even when the going went tough.

'_Harry….we're fine, but….I think Clark's going to do something desperate,' _Chloe thought.

'_You….you think,' _Harry managed in a pained tone of voice but that was about all that he said, he could not go any further.

'_Yes….I think,' _Chloe remarked as she felt the exasperation coming through her voice.

'_Well the good news is that he doesn't have the Fortress this time, so we won't see a Nova Javelin nearly strike the middle of the city,' _Harry remarked to himself as he placed his hand on the top of his head and pondered everything.

Crisis was a word that many people threw around too lightly, but this was what Harry felt, he felt that he was going through a crisis or at least the world was.

Yet when there was crisis, there was opportunity.

* * *

Zod's men appeared in front of Kal-El as he stood at the edge of a building's rooftop, looking down upon Metropolis below.

"All of you….you're following someone who is going to lead you with lies," Clark remarked as he held the Book of RAO in his hand. "But this….I can bring us to a new world….a world where we could be free of all of the shackles of humanity. We will never fit together on Earth."

Clark smiled, he could use the Book of RAO to send everyone away and with Harry Potter out of the way, he would be the only Kryptonian in the world. He felt a headache coming onto him but he ignored that. He was in for an impressive fight but he was not about to be taken down, at least not yet. His hands were getting completely and totally numb as he opened his hands and closed them. His breathing became more rampant.

"Okay, Clark….just settle down."

Clark turned around and saw Green Arrow standing there in front of him.

He was the one who happened upon Clark first but he hoped for some real super powered back up soon. He had a feeling that his arrows were not going to be sufficient to take him down. He placed the arrows in his hand and he stood in front of him.

"You're….trying to tell me what to do?" Clark asked to him. "What….the rest of the League decided to send their errand boy to try and talk Clark down because he's been a naughty boy?"

Green Arrow felt a moment of annoyance and he looked around. He felt like a walking target up here with a group of super powered Kandorians walking around him. He tapped his hand on his arrow.

"Do you think that little toy is going to take me out?" Clark asked as he taunted him.

"No, but anything's worth a shot," Green Arrow commented as he launched his arrow at him.

He stared down Clark and there was almost a daring glance in Clark's eyes. His hand quivered over the bow and the arrow as he tried to keep his hand onto it. He was this close to firing off a shot but he stopped.

"Go ahead, Ollie, pull the trigger, or are you nothing but a playboy in tights cosplaying as some reject from the Sherwood Forest?" Clark asked.

'_Annihilate him, Kal-El,' _Jor-El demanded.

Lois showed up on the roof immediately, surely she was not too late? She saw that Oliver was squared off with Clark.

'_Oh boy….what did Harry….oh shit better do it Lane, no turning back now.'_

Lois cleared her throat and said it "Red Sun!"

Clark and the Kandorians all froze like statues in the middle of the square. Lois blinked as she watched them.

"Well….guess I should have brought you along in the first place," Green Arrow remarked but Clark came back to life.

"That was a noble effort but that only works once," Clark said scathingly as he went towards Lois but she dodged out of the way.

Lois smiled as she moved out of the way.

"If you're stalling for time, then you've got another thing coming," Clark remarked to her.

"Snap out of it, you might be many things but…."

"I'm not what, Lois, tell me what I'm not?" Clark asked as he reached towards her but she sent him flying off of the edge of building with a huge punch.

Oliver blinked but Clark climbed back up and he rushed forward.

Lois jumped out of the way but Oliver, without having super speed, was not so lucky. Clark nailed Oliver with huge punch although a small part of him still held back. The impact rattled him in the side of the head and there was a few seconds where he staggered onto the ground.

The Green Arrow dropped down but another archer was perched and she had Kryptonite tipped arrows.

'_Ready, aim, fire.'_

Clark was nailed in the back with one of the arrows and he staggered for a brief second, nearly falling over. Another arrow nailed him in the chest, along with a third arrow, a fourth, a fifth, a sixth.

Clark took six Kryptonite arrows to the chest but the adrenaline from the pits pumped through his body. He would not be taken out that easily and his heart thumped harder within his chest but the blood flowing through his veins allowed him to step up.

Oliver was down on the ground, blood pouring from his mouth, and he had seen far better days.

"An insect," Zod remarked as he turned up and grabbed Oliver like he was garbage.

With a casual toss, he threw Oliver over the edge of the building into an alleyway below like he was a piece of paper.

"And then there was only one," Zod remarked as he reached to grab Lois but she dodged out of the way.

"RED SUN!" Lois yelled frantically but Zod's hand found her throat.

"That little codework might work with someone of lesser will but you'll find that…."

Clark nailed Zod from behind and caused him to stagger.

"He's purged his blood of the elements already, he was willing to poison you all," Clark remarked to them.

"Really….I was going to ensure that the antidote worked on me," Zod said but there were many accusing eyes on him.

"You would have sold them out, sold out your own people, and don't deny that you would," Clark remarked as he saw Zod.

'_Send them away, Kal-El, you've done well,' _Jor-El remarked and Clark broke open a statue on the side of the building.

"The crystal structure," Zod breathed but his men grabbed him from behind.

"You gave us tainted blood," one of the soldiers commented.

"I was going to cure you….you've got to believe me."

"They won't believe you," Clark remarked as he saw him. "Kneel before the Son of Jor-El, Zod."

"You must be joking if you'd think that I'd demean myself," Zod remarked as he looked towards him.

"I'm going to send you away and then I'm going to make sure that the rest of your days are going to be miserable," Clark remarked.

Lois watched the situation, wondering if this was all part of whatever nutcase plan Harry cooked up.

A bit of humanity went through Clark's eyes but he could not kill Zod, not here. His eyes flickered.

"Justice will show it's way," Clark remarked.

'_Send them home son, you're going home, to Krypton," _Jor-El commented to him.

"Yes, we are," Clark remarked as he placed the Book of RAO in the slot.

**To Be Concluded in Part Two. **


	35. Chapter 35: Fate of Kandor Part Two

_This is it, the finale, where the world as we know it will never be the same again. _

**Chapter Thirty Five: Fate of Kandor Part Two. **

The moment of truth was here as Clark found a way to send the Kandorians back home. They all popped off one by one, disappearing into the night.

The Book of RAO glowed as bright lights surrounded them all, and they left one by one. Perhaps it was just Clark's imagination running wild, but many of them seemed to be fairly relieved to be sent off into the night. Earth was not Krypton, no matter how much some of them tried to make the most of it.

Until there was only two standing on the roof. Zod's eyes locked with Clark and both of them kept staring each other down.

Panic resounded through the mind of Clark Kent, Kal-El, whoever he was, he was panicking. Zod was there but he should have been sent off with the rest of them. As a matter of fact, so would Clark but yet he felt something that was within Zod's coat. He reached forward towards him but Zod took a step back.

"I'm not going back, I'll be a god on this world where I'll be another insect on this New Krypton," Zod commented as Clark grabbed him around the shoulders as a bolt of lightning flashed in the background. Rain poured from the sky as Clark and Zod circled each other, both men staring each other down, with malicious intentions flickering through their eyes. There was a seconds pause.

"You're going back," Clark told him as he heard the crack of thunder but Zod's face contorted with a smile.

"You couldn't assert yourself against an army of ants, much less someone who was bred for conquest like me," Zod retorted in a nasty tone. "Earth needs someone who can lead them, they will suffer without it. In many ways, I'm doing this planet a favor. Can't you see that Kal-El?"

"I see it perfectly, I see that you're completely out of your mind," Clark fired back as he locked his eyes on Zod but the Major's smile continued to widen as there was a brief moment where he flickered his fingers over his secret weapon.

"Blue is an interesting color, isn't it?" Zod asked. "It can represent tranquility, peace, but it can also represent one other thing….and that's mortality."

"The Blue Kryptonite…it's keeping us from being brought back," Clark breathed.

"You are truly the son of Jor-El," Zod snarled in a mocking tone as he lunged forward and knocked Clark back with a vicious punch.

Clark was flung up into the air and he landed down onto the ground.

"The problem is, Kal-El, I don't need my powers to defeat you, you are a worthless worm who needs the yellow sun and its gifts to even lift your head," Zod remarked to him.

Zod rushed forward and gave a huge punt to Clark's head. His head rang with the force of foot across skull and the close proximity of the blue Kryptonite.

"One final lesson before I put you in the grave," Zod growled as he slammed his hands down on the back of Clark's head and tried to stab him with the knife but Clark blocked it with his hands. "There's no protectors to save you, no minders…they've all been taken out….and no Harry Potter to save you either."

Zod cracked Clark back against the edge of the building and tried to stab him but Clark used a discarded brick to break it.

"One final lesson, Son of Jor-El!" Zod yelled as a crack of lightning resounded in the background. "YOU WILL KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!"

This was emphasized as Zod kicked Clark and pushed him back, throwing him into the crystalized console causing his head to crack against it.

Punch, punch, punch!

"This is my moment of triumph, Jor-El refused to bring my son back from the dead, well I'll even the scales!" Zod bellowed in crazed insanity. "An eye for an eye, a son for a son, the House of El ends, and your cousin is next!"

Zod picked up Clark over his head with a surprising amount of strength and impaled him upon the crystal structure, ripping the Book of RAO from it. He picked up the crystals and slammed them down onto the head of Clark.

Lois looked up, she had been knocked for a loop in the fight earlier but she was not completely out. The daughter of General Sam Lane might be a bit beaten down but she was still standing. And as long as she could still stand, she could still fight and do the job that Harry assigned to her all of that time ago.

Lois offered a long and labored sigh as there was one strained thought that went through her mind as she bounced up, coughing slightly as she thought about it.

'_Up, up, and away,' _Lois thought to herself.

Clark was strangled by Zod.

"There won't be enough of you left to bury," Zod yelled as he doused his body in lighter fluid. "Without your powers, you burn as well as the next human and now with the Book of RAO gone…."

Zod took the blue Kryptonite dagger and tossed it over the side like an afterthought.

"I no longer need my insurance," Zod remarked as he laid a small chunk on Clark's chest to make sure he remained mortal. "This is going to hurt me a lot more than it hurts you."

Lois picked up the blue Kryptonite dagger and without thinking, she rushed forward.

Zod turned around and blocked it with his hands and kicked Lois in the stomach, causing her to fly off of the side of the building.

Lois wasn't sure who caught her but the force of Zod's kick was enough to knock the wind out of her and cause her to pass out.

"Kill me and get it over with," Clark grunted as he struggled to get up.

"On your knees like the dog you are, pathetic," Zod stated with a sneer as he rolled Clark over and ground his nose into the pavement. "Pathetic…."

"No more than you," Clark breathed as he held the blue Kryptonite rock with his remaining strength and tried to go for one last ditch to attack him.

He smashed it in Zod's face, causing him to stagger back. He kicked Zod back and the two continued to brawl.

After that cheapshot, Zod took advantage, headbutting Clark and staggering him several steps.

"This may hurt me but it will be the death of you, son of El," Zod rasped as blood poured down from his forehead.

A green Kryptonite dagger, snatched from the League of Shadows, was going to be the end of him.

"And your adrenaline's worn off, hasn't it, a pity, you're weaker than ever," Zod taunted him with amusement dancing in his eyes.

Clark tried to pull the green Kryptonite dagger away and touched it with his hands. He felt his hands begin to blister the moment it touched his bare flesh.

"Little boys, shouldn't play with knives," Zod taunted Kal as he wrestled the knife away from him and slammed his elbow into a couple of times, causing him to stagger back in pain.

Zod disarmed Clark with precision and skill that one would expect from an experienced army commander. Then he took the knife and plunged it between Clark's ribs.

He was already burned, battered, with torn clothes and he gave a pained grimace.

"Bon voyage," Zod taunted, the grin across his face could not be more pronounced than it was immediately.

Heat vision met Clark as he gave a painful shriek as he flew off of the edge of the building.

* * *

Harry wondered how late he would be for this encounter. He was not in the best shape and he knew that it was a long term consequence of the way he'd restored his powers after the previous Death pulled them from him. He limped slightly as his leg dragged behind him but he kept his eyes pressed forward, ready to go up, up, and away.

'_Harry, we've got a problem.'_

Nothing good could come from those words being uttered, not at all. Now, Harry heard them from Chloe, who was the latest barer of bad news.

'_The good news is that most of the Kandorians have been sent away…except for Clark and Zod,' _Chloe informed him.

'_That would be about right,' _Harry said in a sarcastic tone with a very slight grimace as he kept his gaze locked up to the top of the tower.

'_Yes….well….we've got bigger problems than that,' _Chloe commented to him.

'_Dare I ask what these bigger problems are?' _Harry asked, already he was dreading what he was going to have to do, fighting Zod when his powers were fluctuating in a weird way.

'_The Book of RAO may have torn a dimensional rift through time and space….actually there's no may about it, it has,' _Chloe thought as she used the Shining Light Foundation's main computer as a way to lock onto the rift that was now developing over Metropolis. _'And I don't think that even you have the power to patch this one up and no that wasn't a challenge, so don't get any bright ideas.'_

'_I wouldn't dream about it, honey,' _Harry remarked to Chloe with a slight wink and an even wider smile as the woman sighed with exasperation.

'_Clark's….oh dear god!' _Chloe yelled as she looked at the dot that was blinking. _'He's…..Harry, do you think that you could check your Lifeline reader or something?'_

A request to check the Lifeline Reader, there was no question about that, that couldn't be good at all. Harry's smile left his face, of course it'd long since left the building.

He was not about to tell Chloe that he drained a fair bit of his power from all of the activities, although his stamina was one that could recover faster than most men. At least that's what resounded in the back of his mind, not to mention the thumping headache that accompanied these thoughts.

'_Focus and do,' _Harry thought to himself, frustration wrecking both his body and mind but he had a lot going through his brain.

He would figure out how to do this immediately or he would falter trying to do so. His heart hammered against the front of his chest like a dramatic drum beat and his green eyes flooded with a certain amount of dismay.

He had to figure out and lock onto the Lifeline Readings.

'_Please tell me that Clark's not as doomed as I think that he is,' _Chloe thought.

'_I would like to tell you that he's fine, but…..it would make a liar out of me,' _Harry thought to Chloe, trying to keep his wits about himself even though at this point, he was running out of ways to keep himself supremely calm and not to mention fairly sane.

He had to try to do so.

'_Okay….you're….yeah I know this seems bad,' _Chloe said nervously to him. _'But maybe you could save him.'_

'_Yes….I suppose I have to,' _Harry remarked as he saw where the Kandorians were, at least of almost ten minutes ago.

Harry felt almost like he was dragging himself out of the grave to fight these enemies. He limped slightly and his head hung to the side like a limp noddle. He shook his head and took a deep breath. There was one slight thought that went through his mind.

'_Focus.'_

Harry wondered if he subconsciously handicapped himself to make his battles more challenging and thus potential triumphs even more amazing. The real thrill was in the chase after all, or so they said.

He thought of Kara and the future that they would have.

And they would have a future.

It wouldn't be with Zod in it, however. That much Harry could take to the bank. It was time to force that final confrontation.

His breath heightened through him as a pained grimace filled his body.

'_It's time,' _Harry thought, wondering if that declaration had never had a tone of finality to it as it did now.

* * *

A young archer stood as she watched the chaos. She wondered how she got drawn into this in the first place but she supposed that it was in her nature to atone for what happened in the past regarding her family.

The blonde's hair swung back and forth across her face as she blew on her hair and there was a prominent sigh that went over her face. She felt a knot cross her stomach as she paused as everything that went around her.

Her name was Artemis Crock…..although that didn't matter right now to her. She dressed in green attire and was very annoyed about one thing. When people saw her, they assumed that she was Green Arrow, even though all they shared was a similar taste of colors, blonde hair, and the gimmick that they used.

Artemis saw the archer in question down on the ground and she saw him roll over. Blood poured from his mouth.

"So….you're the other one," the Green Arrow managed as he could barely lift his head. He suffered a horrific attack.

"I want to make one thing perfectly clear, we might share a similar gimmick, but we're nothing alike," Artemis remarked as she allowed the hood to cover her face and there was so much pain through her eyes.

"The green attire, blonde hair, arrows, and a potentially tragic back story to go along with it all….don't….think we're alike at all," Arrow said to her in a weak voice.

"You're in no place to quip, especially if you want my help to get out of here," Artemis remarked as she turned around. "Your friend took a nasty spill."

"Was that before or after you pumped him full of Kryponite arrows?" Green Arrow asked.

"I did what I had to do, Oliver," Artemis told him with a smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Oliver said in protest as he tried to mask himself but he had a very notable handicaps on him. His busted ribs were sore as he tried to sit up but he collapsed down onto the ground. The archer hovering above him, well she had a certain level of amusement in her eyes and it was obvious that she was enjoying seeing him shift in a slight amount of discomfort.

"Your denial is amusing to me," Artemis whispered to him with a smile crossing over her lips. "It's obvious if anyone puts together the pieces. Queen Industries manufactures all kinds of trick arrows that you use in your crime fighting. It's almost like you want to admit to what you're doing without even admitting to doing anything."

Oliver's eyes flashed, he hated when people had a point, especially the females of the species. Regardless, he kept his head up and his mind calm and clear.

"So you've done your homework, congratulations," Oliver said tensely. "So has Harry Potter hooked you up with the arsenal or…."

"No, he hasn't," Artemis responded, wondering where he could have gotten that idea. "Never mind…."

"We've got a problem."

Oliver saw Shayera, Diana, and Zatanna arrive. He knew better than to make a flippant comment. Karen arrived next in full Power Girl mode.

"So what's your story?" Karen asked as she looked at Artemis. "You're her, aren't you?"

"Yes, I'm her," Artemis confirmed to Karen although her gaze was tentative at best. She was not a part of this League, she worked well alone. "And as for The Blur or whatever the hell he's called this week, the meteor rock arrows were self-defense. He would have killed me if I hadn't fired."

"I know but….have you seen him lately?" Karen asked but there was an explosion in the alleyway.

Clark was on edge of life and death, his face and chest was burned from the attacks and blood soaked down his face. He could barely sit up, his ribs were bruised in every which way imaginable.

"I could have sworn that I heard that he was invulnerable," Artemis whispered.

"He's…..it's been burned into his chest, "Zatanna breathed heavily.

Lois turned up, staggering and her eyes glazed over in agony and desperation.

"You can get it out, can't you?" Lois asked, her frustration mounting through her eyes.

Zatanna shook her head. "Not without killing him but this is the ultimate Catch-22 type situation, if we take it out, we'll kill him. But if….we don't take it out….it will kill him."

"I….do what we have to do, but Zod's up there and….has anyone seen Harry in all of this?" Karen asked.

'_Zod's the least of our worries, remember the crisis,' _Chloe thought to them.

Oliver managed to force himself up into a standing slump although his internal injuries and broken bones indicated that he was not going to be standing up on his own accord for long. Diana took pity on him and tried to help him.

"We need to get you to a hospital," Diana told him but Oliver shook his head.

"It's merely a flesh wound," he protested to her but his feet dragged underneath him and his knees felt ready to buckle.

"Yeah, sure," Shayera said with a roll of her eyes as she saw Zod up above the building. She was half tempted to smash him on principle.

"We should take him out now," Karen said to them but she sighed as she recalled the crisis that was happening around them.

"Getting everyone out of the city should be our first priority," Diana said as she looked up nervously, although she wondered how feasible it would to escort everyone out of the city before the meteors started to fall. The dark haired woman brushed her hand over the top of her head and nerves racked through her body as she prepared herself for the next step.

"Yes first priority, although are you sure this meteor shower is going to break through the dimensional barrier?' Zatanna asked, not wanting to take certain steps to ensure that people would move it. Although there was knot that appeared in her stomach that caused her frustration and more worry.

"Yes, I'm certain," Chloe remarked. "In forty seven minutes, there's another meteor shower that's going to hit Metropolis and there's no way for anyone to stop it."

'_I can stop it.'_

Harry's stubborn declaration was heard by all of his bond mates but first he had to stop Zod.

* * *

It lasted only a moment but Zod took a few seconds to bask in his moment of triumph, the ultimate glory that he felt. Everything flickered through his eyes and his mind became open, more clear now than it ever was before and it ever will be again. His grin did not falter for a second as his arms crossed each other and he waited.

The son of Jor-El suffered a humiliating defeat at his hands, going down in a burning heap, as he expected. Zod replayed the moment in his mind's eye again and again, analyzing it from every angle possible. It was truly a thing of beauty and he soaked himself in the epitome of everything, basking in the glow, basking in everything. The smile that crossed his face was sinister and almost perfect. It was more glorious than anything that he ever experienced through his entire life.

"You really think you've won, don't you?"

Zod spun around and saw Harry Potter, bruises on his face, dried up blood all over his body, standing in front of him. He had a slight limp although the emerald eyed wizard disguised it. His hand was placed on the side of his head as he sunk his leg down on the ground. It nearly collapsed and rolled underneath him but somehow he stood up.

The Major's smile widened over his face. "The thought….it did cross my mind."

"You think you can defeat me, but you're one thing, that's wrong, very wrong," Harry said as he stepped towards him and summoned his full power. "You're nothing but a replication of the original, something that should have been sent on a long time ago."

"You think you're fitting to judge me because you have some fancy title, you fancy yourself as something high and mighty, don't you, Harry Potter?" Zod asked in a fairly mocking tone of voice as he stared down his adversary. Both sets of eyes locked onto each other as they circled each other.

"It's not what I think that matters," Harry told Zod after a few moments pause and sure enough, his hand was reared back. "It's what I know to be true."

Zod dodged out of the way, his powers stronger than ever, not to mention his ego. He drew his fist back and tried to attack Harry with a full force punch.

He dodged the attack and Harry jumped behind him. Flaming daggers appeared but Zod got onto the ground, ducked, and rolled underneath the nasty barrage. He enjoyed a challenge more than anything, because the son of Jor-El did not give any challenge.

"I might have broken Clark Kent, but it was you who pushed him to the brink with your games and your plans," Zod taunted him.

Harry was not in the mood to hear these words from Zod, although there might have been some degree of truth to them, it did not matter to Harry. It did not matter to him in the slightest, all he wanted to do was go toe to toe with Zod, go face to face with the man who stood in his way.

"You can't defeat me any sooner then he did, not on your own, not with some omniscient force pulling your strings," Zod taunted him in a slimy manner.

Harry flipped over the top of Zod's head and fired his heat vision at the back of Zod's head. Zod's heat vision blocked his and the two beams connected with each other.

Harry used Zod's distraction to send a cutting curse at him but the cutting curse was dodged. Zod kept ducking and rolling, his heart hammering against his ribs.

"Come on, you know….one more round, let's go," Zod called.

Harry rushed Zod but he dodged the attack.

Zod was circling his prey like a demented shark or perhaps a vulture of some sort. Regardless he went around and around in a circle. Harry and Zod stared each other down and Harry's heart beat got louder as he kept going for another attack.

He jabbed his hand at the ground and turned Zod around, kicking his leg out from underneath him. Zod was flipped head over heels and sent off the side of the building.

Harry knew that would only deter Zod for a few seconds, that man did have the ability to fly after all.

With a loud boom, he popped back up and flew at Harry like a bat out of hell.

Harry dodged and nailed him in the back of the head. He summoned a few bolts of energy and brought them down on Zod's head.

The building they fought on, abandoned as it was, was giving away to some kind of structural weakness. Both of them swayed back and forth on the building above the city. Neither was willing to give up their attempts to take the other down.

"Come on, come on!" Zod yelled to Harry, taunting him.

The two pushed back and forth, it was like a demented and twisted game of tug of war that neither was about to lose.

A bright flash of light resounded.

'_Don't worry about me, get as many people out of here as you can,' _Harry said to them frantically.

If Zod was in the city when the meteors went off, it would be easier to take him down. Harry bent on his knee and propelled himself up in the air. He jumped up and slammed both of his knees in the back of Zod's head.

Zod reached for another knife but Harry turned it into a rubber chicken. The emerald eyed wizard pushed it out of his hand with another swift kick and he twisted around, and with a huge pop, knocked it out of his hand.

'_Harry, clear, unless you want to get flattened by the meteors,' _Chloe thought frantically.

'_Flattened by….HARRY GET OUT OF THERE NOW!' _Kara yelled to him losing her head.

It was a foolish last second attempt as Harry kept nailing Zod with a series of punches and kicks, along with an odd magical attack to keep him off balance.

He would pull out at the very last second. Zod would be buried and someone needed to make sure the meteors did not hit populated areas

* * *

Energy surrounded the area around Metropolis and there was a few seconds where Harry paused as he waited for the other shoe to drop. He continued the brawl with Zod.

"I don't know what you're trying to accomplish with this, I've destroyed the Book of RAO and the Console, so there's no way to get rid of me," Zod taunted him.

"Give me a little credit about how creative I can be," Harry fired back at Zod as there was a loud boom that could be heard about them.

'_Please tell me….please tell me that you're getting most of these people out,' _Harry thought to them as he continued his rumble with Zod high above the Metropolis streets.

'_Yeah, most of them, although convincing them is like pulling teeth….and there are some that won't leave unless I club them over the head and drag them out of the city limits,' _Karen thought to him.

'_Yeah, do that,' _Harry breathed to his brides as he dodged the attack and Zod continued to get up in his face. Harry fought him off.

Harry thought that time was running out, maybe for him, maybe for the rest of the world, maybe for Metropolis, he had no idea but it was running out for someone.

He knew that he could protect the people but the city, that was another matter entirely.

Zod grabbed Harry by the throat but he sent him flying, blasting the Major back with a huge spell.

Harry was going to pull out some of the most potent spells that he knew, at least so he could knock Zod down. His wrist ached a tiny bit as he pushed himself forward. There was a few seconds where his eyes closed tight but then he opened them back up to properly focus.

Magically amplified heat vision lured Zod right underneath the point.

'_Golden dot….fucking Herald rules,' _Harry thought but he knew that while he couldn't directly kill Zod, the meteor shower would not break that rule.

"Are we playing…"

A loud explosion echoed and a large piece of meteor rock about the size of a van flew towards Harry and Zod.

Zod was bent over, although Harry managed to stand up. The smile crossing his face was obvious.

"No…it won't end….this way," Zod grunted as he pulled out another dagger that he had concealed in his boot and tried to stab Harry.

Harry blocked it and knocked Zod back with a series of punches with magical energy channeled through them, he was picking him apart piece by piece, taking him apart, and putting him back together the wrong way.

BOOM!

Another explosion and more meteor rocks, this time of a slightly smaller variety poured in through the portal.

'_Well this might fucking suck,' _Harry said in a pained tone but Zod grabbed onto his throat and the two struggled with each other.

Karen tried to get in but Diana held her back.

"No, Harry will make it out…."

Clark staggered to his feet, despite the damage that was given to him.

"Got to….finish Zod," Clark managed, despite the fact that the Kryptonite was killing him.

"You can't…."

Clark staggered forward but he collapsed in the middle of the street just as several huge chunks of Kryptonite shot from the sky onto him.

'_HARRY I HOPE YOU'RE WITH US!' _Karen yelled frantically as she could almost sense Kara nervously biting on her nails.

Zod and Harry were surrounded by a ring of Kryptonite and it was raining around it. Thanks to its unique chemical compound, Harry could not transfigure the things, although he felt a stabbing pain. It was not because of the Kryptonite, it was because of Zod stabbing him in the throat.

"I've won," Zod breathed.

"No," Harry rasped to him as the blood stained the blade and he collapsed, but with his last ounce of energy, he grabbed Zod and threw him onto the largest pile of Kryptonite.

Harry collapsed in the middle of the street and they saw a large spaceshift crash through three sets of buildings and then it landed with an impact onto the edge of the car.

The shape ship landed a ways away from the Kryptonite that rained down from the sky and Harry rolled over, seeing a blurry image.

He could have sworn that he saw someone exit the ship but he blacked out immediately, his arms twitching and his legs twitching as he had a spasm.

* * *

The dust cleared in the middle of Metropolis although the meteors kept giving a faint and eerie glow. The entire city was being flattened by the rubble that flew in every single direction.

The bodies of Zod, Clark, and Harry were missing from where the meteors landed.

The ship rested firmly in the middle of Metropolis and there was a few seconds where it remained calm, or at least as calm as it ever was going to be. There was a click, click, click of the ship as it opened.

The smoke cleared as a figure stepped out of the ship. She looked from one side to the next, like a dear in the headlights as she poked her head up.

She was sixteen years old with long blonde hair and piercing blue eyes, with blue ragged clothes wrapped around her lithe frame. She did not speak any language known to the people of Earth. This was not even her dimension but thanks to a glitch in time and space, she made her way here. She took a few tentative steps forward although nerves racked her stomach.

She was Kara Zor-El of an alternate Earth and she had no idea what she was going to be brought into.

* * *

Another blonde flew from the sky and she landed with a krupuk. The last thing she knew was that she'd been thrown off a bridge by some nutcase in a Goblin costume. There was only one thing that was on her mind. The twenty one year old female stood, scared, nervous, whatever you'd want to say. She also had what appeared to be a sticky rope like substance wrapped around her ankle.

There was only one response to this, one of the nine people who had been transported from this universe of Marvels….so to speak. Some of them had been of the attractive female variety, others had been of the more unsavory variety.

Gwendolyn Marie Stacy, Gwen to her friends, stood there alone, unknowing of the fact that she had been gifted powers by a source far greater than life itself. Right now, she had one thing to say to the world.

"DAMN YOU PETER PARKER!"

She was one of the nine from that world that had been sent through the riff between time and space.

She was one of the attractive female Heralds of Death that had been sent through the portal.

* * *

There was another person, dressed in black and red as he turned around. He had guns all over his body, armed to the hilt.

"This doesn't look like the Golden Girls fan convention," he commented as he consulted the signs, although most of them had been smashed by the flying meteor rocks. "Guess I should have made a right turn at Albuquerque."

He looked up and smiled.

"I wonder if they have any chimchangas," Deadpool said as he took a huge step forward.

He was one of them brought from the universe of Marvels, true believers, and he was not of the attractive female kind.

"Who the hell are you, Stan Lee?" Deadpool asked to the air. "Did you really need a cheap gimmick for Book Three that you had to bring the Merc with the Mouth in? Not that I blame you, we'll bring in the fangirls in droves, Author Boy. But why the Marvel characters?"

Deadpool paused.

"Oh no you're so not going to dodge the question with a scene break!" Deadpool exclaimed but he paused as his eyes squinted forward. "Ah, I guess you are….mother…bear."

* * *

Death of the Endless thought of all that they did to salvage together a plan that had been doomed from the start. Lara and Lily stood next to her, they knew that two souls were in peril, broken, and shattered. They mourned in a way that only two mothers could.

"It's time to try and figure out what we could make with the broken pieces," Death of the Endless said in a cryptic voice.

* * *

Outside of Metropolis, a young man with piercing green eyes and long shoulder length hair that was completely straight. He stood as the sun rose.

'_From chaos, there breeds opportunity,' _he thought.

Harrison Luthor arrived from Earth Two. The destruction of Metropolis and the battered life it left brought great promise for him to take his opportunity. Five figures stood in the shadows indicated that he did not come alone.

They would need a savior.

* * *

Darkness loomed through the edge, something far greater, and far malevolent than anyone could imagine.

The Apokolips was coming.

All would burn and cower before his might.

* * *

"Let the recombination process begin."

* * *

**To Be Continued in Herald of Death Book Three. **

_For the record, I will try and get the Director's Notes out on this chapter later this evening, because there are a few things that I have to discuss. Book Three Begins on October 29__th__ 2013 though and will be thirty chapters. _


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